Sweet Caroline
by Scruffy-Nerf-Hearder
Summary: Caroline Quint's summer plans included sunbathing, babysitting and maybe a summer romance with Amity's Golden Boy. They did not include old friends, her estranged father and a man eater. To some Amity means Friendship- To others, Danger. Matt Hooper/OC
1. Chapter 1

Hi Everyone, this is a story I started thinking about after watching JAWS a few weeks ago. I've always kind of had a thing for Richard Dreyfuss, especially as Matt Hooper. Anyways, this is a Hooper/OC story and I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I only own Caroline. I am not making money off of this story. Having said that, please enjoy!

* * *

"Morning Caroline," I looked up at the Police Chief, Mr. Martin Brody from the small table in Sue's coffee shop I always had my breakfast.

"Good morning Mr. Brody." I smiled at the tall thin man wearing the tan uniform he always wore.

"Heard anything from your dad?"

"I heard he just got back in from a week on the water." I said as I looked back at my coffee momentarily. "How are your boys?"

"Michael's birthday is in a few days, we're actually having a small dinner, I don't know if you'd be interested in coming along?"

"Shouldn't it just be family?" I asked with a smile. I had babysat for the Brodys a few times, and was one of the women who helped at the after school program for the kids in town, it watched them, took them on field trips around the island and taught them things. Both the Brody kids were enrolled in it.

"Well the kids both love you, and we think Michael may have a bit of a crush on you." he winked at me and I laughed.

"Alright, just give me a call and let me know when and where, I'll be there." I smiled and he nodded before Sue brought his order out. He took it and paid before looking at me.

"I'll have Ellen give you a call." he said and I nodded.

"Sure thing, have a good day." I smiled brightly. He nodded and walked away, when he did, I finished my breakfast and paid before I walked out of the coffee shop. Tourists were walking around the town, holding kids by their arms, or talking to each other, some had bikes, and others had dogs on leashes. I smiled looking around before I quickly walked to my summer job, working at the information center. I walked into the office and sighed seeing Robert Lancer trying to fix the air conditioning.

"Morning Robbie." I said as I set my coffee down, he obviously hadn't heard me walk in, because he jumped and turned around, his chestnut brown hair was swept in front of his face and he looked at me with wide grey eyes before he cleared his throat.

"Morning Miss Caroline, I didn't hear you come in." he said and smiled at me.

"What's the verdict?"

"Hmm?" he tore his eyes away from me and cleared his throat. "Oh well, there's a part I need to go order and I can pick up on the mainland, it should take me a few hours, but I can have it done before you get off tonight." he said and I nodded.

"Okay, well, keep me updated." I smiled at him and he nodded.

"So, um, Miss Caroline," he started as I put my purse under my desk and straightened some pamphlets.

"Yes?" I asked slowly.

"Do you think- maybe- you'd like to go to dinner with me sometime?" To be honest, I know Robbie had a thing for me, but I wasn't expecting him to actually ask me out anytime soon. I was so surprised I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. He was nice, sweet, gentle, and was basically Amity's golden boy.

"Sure." I smiled surprising him and myself. I watched as his face broke out in a wide smile and then cleared his throat.

"Well that's- great- I um, I'll get that part for you, and then we can decide where to go." he stumbled over his words as he got his stuff and walked out of the information office. Mrs. Jerome walked in as he walked out and gave him an odd look as he rushed out, then looked to me.

"What on earth did you do to Robby Lancer?" she asked and I laughed lightly.

"I only agreed to go out to dinner with him." I said with a shrug and a smile.

The next evening I went out to dinner with Robby, we went to a nice restaurant, Zoe's, and the food was wonderful, I wore a nice dress, everything was perfect, except one thing.

That night at dinner I realized that Robby Lancer is without a doubt one of the most boring men I have ever gone out with. And that's not to say I went out with many men, I had a boyfriend when I was a teenager, and a live in boyfriend a few years ago, but lately it had just been dates here and there, and all of them were more interesting then Amity's golden boy. Even through that, I agreed to go on a second date with him, and while I knew it was probably cruel to do so, I thought, maybe, just maybe he was nervous and I wanted to give him a second chance.

"Hello Gustav," I said to my old Persian cat who was sitting on my couch when I got home from my date. I took my light sweater off- even though I didn't need it, it went with the dress I had worn. He mrowed at me and I chuckled before I went to the kitchen and opened a can of cat food as Gustav swirled around my feet. I smiled and put the food into a bowl and set it down in front of him. He gave an appreciative 'mrow' before he started to eat his food.

I went back to the living room and turned to the left, going to the stairs to the master bedroom. I changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top before brushing my hair into a ponytail and going to my bathroom where I washed all of the makeup off of my face, I went back to my room and grabbed a book off of my bookshelf and went to my bed, I laid down and was reading when I felt a pressure on my lower back. Turning slightly and craning my neck I laughed seeing Gustav making himself comfortable on my back. I turned and looked back at my book and turned the page, the written word of Charlotte Brontë, unaware that as I lay there reading a predator was slowly approaching the small island I called home.


	2. Chapter 2

"Good morning Mr. Brody!" I called as I brushed a strand of strawberry blonde hair from my face, it was mid morning and the poor man looked frazzled, he didn't even look my way, but I paid him no mind, I knew he was probably busy, so I made my way to the information office and sat down behind my desk, basking in my beautiful air conditioning. Within an hour someone called in asking about a missing young girl, I told them I had no information for them at the moment but to call back, then I called the Amity police station. "Hi Polly, it's Caroline at the information office, I had a call about a missing young girl?"

"Yes, poor dear, seems there was an accident. Mr. Brody is going to close the beach."

"Close the beach?" I breathed. That was unheard of in Amity in summertime.

"I know, but he seems to think it's best." she sighed. "The mayor and a few of the others have gone to try and talk some sense into him."

"Don't you think if the chief thinks he should close the beaches, he should close them?" I asked and she sighed.

"Oh dear you're so young." she said dismissively.

"What happened to the girl?"

"Well, some are saying shark attack, and some are saying she was hit by a boat." she said and I frowned.

"What did the autopsy say?" I asked and she grew silent. "Polly?"

"Caroline, I have to go." she said shortly before hanging up. Something didn't feel right, and no matter how many times I called all anyone would say was it was an "Accident", the words never tasted right. As I finished closing up for the night the silence was interrupted by the phone ringing again.

"Amity Information, this is Caroline how can I-" I answered the phone.

"Caroline, glad I caught you," Chief Brody cut me off and I smiled as I sat on the edge of my desk.

"Well hi there Chief." I said. "How is everything?"

"You've heard the news."

"Of course, I spent the entire day telling people it was an accident... It wasn't an accident, was it Chief?"

"See, now I'm not too sure." he said after a pause. "It just doesn't add up."

"What did the autopsy say?"

"Well, they're claiming it was a boating accident..."

"But….?" I prompted.

"But this was while the mayor and a few other concerned citizens prompted me to leave the beach open for the summer."

"Well, maybe this was a onetime incident..." I said hopefully.

"Maybe." he sighed. "Look, have you spoken to your father recently?"

"No, not in a few weeks." I said and cleared my throat. "But, I can... If you need me to."

"It would be good to know if he knows anything about it- if he's seen anything unusual, that sort of thing."

"Okay." I said softly. "I'll go."

"Great, thanks Caroline."

"No problem Chief." I muttered, before hanging up.

I pushed the door open to Harry's; a local bar in Crab Point that tended to cater to the thicker, fishermen type of people on the island, the tough guys who thought themselves the keepers of the sea. The inside of the pub smelled like cheap whisky, sea water, fish and smoke. It was the smell of Crab Point, and to any person not used to it, it would make them gag. To me, it was almost welcoming.

It had been some time since I had done any real fishing. When I had left my aunt's home I went to my father, the place I had spent summer holidays. We had been a team for some time, I had worked for him when he had people go out fishing, city people usually who needed the validation of killing something to feel manly; but when we weren't catering to that crowd we were doing what he called 'real fishing'. Namely sharking.

I knew most people on the island knew about our falling out, and they knew I had worked for him. I also knew most of them had probably told the Brodys about where I had gotten most of the scars on my body, but I had to hand it to them. They never once asked me, and for that I was glad.

"Hello Quint." I said softly to the man sitting at the bar, loosing himself in a glass of whisky.

"Huh, what're you doing here?" he asked, hardly looking up.

"You heard anything about a shark around here?" I asked and he looked from his glass, to me.

"You sure don't waste any time." he said after a moment.

"In case you haven't noticed I'm not too fond of being this close to you."

"Makes me wonder why you came here in the first place."

"I'm starting to wonder that myself." I said simply. "Shark, go."

"I haven't seen nor heard of any sharks near here in close ta ten years until right now." he said, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. "What happened?"

"No one will tell me anything."

"Now, you're the town gossip. Do you really think I'm going to believe you don't know what's going on."

"I work at the information booth. I'm not a gossip."

"Aye, so you're paid to be a gossip, but you're a gossip nonetheless. How're things going with you and your young man?"

"_My _young man?" I asked.

"Robert Lancer, ring any bells?" he asked.

"He's not _my_ young man, and how do you even know about that?"

"You aren't the only Quint that knows things." he said, almost teasingly and I looked to the side, before I picked up his glass and took a sip.

"What, your own stuff isn't good enough for you?" I asked and he raised an eyebrow.

"That _is_ mine." he said and I shot a look to the bartender, Harry who suddenly seemed pretty interested in cleaning one specific spot on the counter.

"Hm." I said and Quint raised an eyebrow as I handed the drink back to him and stood up.

"Where are you going?" he asked and I shrugged.

"Home."

"Why don't you stay awhile I'll buy you a proper drink." he said, rather than asked, and after a moment of consideration I slowly sat back down, telling myself if was because you never turn down a free drink, but knowing it was because of who I'd be drinking with. After a few drinks we were back on the subject of sharks. "Just because I haven't seen nor heard about a shark doesn't mean there isn't one. They're crafty, there's probably a lot of off shore caves for them to hide in too." he shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if there's one floatin' around here. Just waitin'. For the perfect time. This place'll be crawling with tourists soon. Lotsa people, lotsa options. Sharks ain't picky." he let out a loud laugh, not realizing how true his words rang.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say I hope you're enjoying the story so far. No Matt in this chapter yet, but as I'm sure you can tell I'm trying to follow the chain of events. Hope you like the chapter! -Scruffy

Disclaimer: I only own Caroline, and even that's debatable. ;)

* * *

Sunday morning came, two days after the attack and my night of drinks with Quint. I had gone on the second date with Robert Lancer the night before. It was okay, dinner and a walk on the beach, while I thought only about the incident the night before. By the end of the night I had hardly heard a word he said, even though there had hardly been a moment where he wasn't talking. At the end of the night when he dropped me off at home I hardly felt his lips against mine.

Even now, as I splashed in the water with the boys- the boys being Michael Brody and his little army of twelve year old friends- I happened to look up at the police chief, and saw him anxiously scanning the water.

"Guys I'm gonna sit out for a bit." I said and they groaned. "No, seriously, I'm getting tired, just let me relax I'll be back in a few." I smiled at them, and they splashed as I walked up the beach, almost getting run down by a little skinny boy with a large yellow raft. I watched with a small laugh as he dove onto the raft, gliding out onto the water.

"Caroline, you're so good with the kids." Mrs. Miller, who had paused her conversation with Mrs. Brody said.

"I want to be a teacher." I said and she smiled with a nod, before looking back at Ellen.

"He hasn't seen anything?" Martin asked as I dried myself off, then flopped down on the beach towel I had laid out. I raised my arms above my head and sighed, settling into the position I had chosen.

"Nothing." I said, and put my sunglasses on. "You would think he'd warn the town if there was a shark coming out here, wouldn't you?" I asked, and he nodded.

"You would think." he said and I sighed, knowing what he meant.

"Caroline, that's a great suit." Ellen said and I smiled looking down at my pale green two piece. I had been embarrassed to wear it, but I knew I had to, I had cut out all fatty foods and lost all the weight I had gained since the holiday season and I was happy to show it off, the bathing suit showed off all my hard work, and I was proud of myself.

"Thanks Ellen!" I smiled. "I ordered it from that catalogue you gave me."

"I thought it looked familiar." she said with a grin. "I didn't realize they did it in green though."

"Me either, but when I called the about it, they gave me a list of options and green was one of them. I thought, what the hey, right?" I smiled and she laughed lightly.

"So Caroline, are you an islander?"

"Yeah, but not on purpose. I was about a month early." I shrugged, and frowned as Frank walked over and blocked my rays, and the Chief's view of the kids in the water.

"Hey, Marty," he said. "I know you got a lot of problems downtown, but I got a few problems at the house I wish you could take care of. One, I've got some cats parking in front of the house, I can't get down to the office." he said, in the water I heard a loud feminine shriek, making me sit up quickly and chief Brody to look over the man's shoulder, both of us relaxed a little when we realized the girl's boyfriend had popped up underneath her and lifted her onto his shoulder, the girl was shrieking with glee as she tried to stay on his shoulder, and not fall back into the water, which is where she would no doubt end up anyway. I stopped listening to Frank go on about a red zone or something, but happily accepted a beer from him, but not before casting a glance at Brody.

"Okay with you chief?" I asked and he nodded. Harry White was making his way over to us, drying himself off, his head covered in a plastic swimming cap. I cracked open my beer and took a long drink, now propping myself up on my left elbow, my legs stretched out in front of me. He cast his eyes over my body, which made me chuckle slightly, a man of his age checking out a young woman. Well, not harm in looking I guess. I wrinkled my nose slightly, but sipped my beer again.

"How's the water Harry?" I asked.

"It's cold." Harry said with a small shiver. He then turned his attention to Brody. "We know all about you, chief. You don't go in the water at all, do you?" he laughed.

"That's some bad hat, Harry," Brody said, shifting in his chair. Harry huffed and walked away, making me look back at Brody. He was not having the best of days obviously.

"Chief Brody, you are uptight." Ellen shffled over behind her husband. She started to massage his shoulders. "That's good, that's it." she said and I looked back at the two.

"Want me to leave you two kids alone?" I teased and she responded by winking.

"Would you?" she asked and I laughed as I sat up and half buried the bottom of my can of beer in the sand.

"Be good you two." I teased with a laugh before I walked away; I walked into the water, only to be splashed by about four different boys. I laughed and started to splash them back as I moved out farther into the water. Harry was right, it was a little cool, but compared with how hot it was outside, it was a nice kind of cool. I was vaguely aware of a voice calling out into the water as I moved out a little further, only to be dunked underwater by Michael Brody. I came to the surface laughing, the voice called out again. This time I could make out what was being said.

"Tippit, Tippit!" a boy with a yellow polo called out to the water, I had seen him throwing sticks for a black lab before, and I started to wonder if Tippit was his dog.

I could see the Brody's younger son, Sean playing in the sand, singing to himself, and the boy, the one looking for his dog looked lost, so I decided to look for the lab, scanning my eyes over the water, I saw the stick the dog had been swimming for. I saw the boys shouting and splashing, and I saw a small wave of water coming right at me from one of the kids. I grinned as I wiped my face off, the grin instantly falling from my face when my eyes focused and I found myself staring at the boy on the yellow raft being pulled under water, blood coming from the area the boy's body had been in.

People started running out to grab their children who were moving away from the blood and I quickly started to usher them away from the beach, dragging them from the water by their arms if I had to. It was a quick moment and everyone was out of the water that I could see, but there was something gnawing at me, I started to move back to the water, when Brody grabbed my upper arm.

"Martin, he's out there." I tried to pull away and he held tight.

"No he's not Caroline." he said sternly, though his eyes looked lost, like he was trying to search the water, hoping to see any sign of the child we both knew we wouldn't see.

"Alex?" a woman's voice called and like that the boy on the raft had a name. "Alex?" she held onto her yellow hat, trying to search the water. "Alex?" the remains of the yellow raft were washing up on shore. "Alex!" she shrieked at the sight of it, I pulled away from Brody and stopped her from running straight into the water.

"Stop, Stop! I'm so sorry." I shouted as I held her shoulders, a few other islanders helped me, she let out a loud wail of despair and sank to her knees, sobbing. I looked at Brody who was holding onto his son Michael, his eyes met mine and I swallowed before walking over to the raft and picking it up. I folded the remains of it up and handed them to the chief. "Think this is enough to close the beaches?" I asked softly and he nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd guess so." he said.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys, just wanted to say I hope you like the story. Please feel free to review! I love getting constructive criticism, or just hearing what ya'll do and don't like. Anywhoo, please enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"What the hell happened?"

"Hello Quint, nice to see you too." I mumbled as my irate father walked into the living room of my house. I had polished off half a bottle of whisky, and cried for the loss of the young boy, Alex. I had to keep reminding myself; that was his name, Alex.

"Cut the pleasantries, what happened?" he asked and I sighed.

"Well, it was a nice, simple day on the beach, and whammo, suddenly there's blood and screaming and people everywhere." I shuttered at the memory. "And there's this mom, this poor, mother, running around, screaming for her son, and I'm standing there, looking like an idiot because I just watched her run around, just like I just watched her son get killed!" tears were rolling down my face again, my lip trembled and I looked at him. "Daddy." I whimpered pathetically before I threw my arms around him and broke out sobbing. Quint, for the record, did give in to his paternal side, and he let me cry on his shoulder as long as I needed to, then he poured me another drink, and slightly flustered, told me to act like a Quint, which meant holding it together and drinking. Which I did.

* * *

"I don't see what the problem is Caroline," Robert said to me as I stood in my doorway. "It's just a walk on the beach."

"Robert, the beach is the last place in the world I want to be right now." I said crossing my arms. "The answer is no."

* * *

"Caroline, thank god you're here." Ellen said to me and I laughed lightly.

"That bad huh?" I asked with a small laugh as I walked into the house. The woman I had grown to think of as my friend let out a laugh.

"Let's see, I've got dinner to finish, a cake to ice, two children outside doing god knows what, a husband locked up in our room reading every book he could get his hands on about sharks and half the city hates us because he had the beach closed for twenty four hours." she said.

"Oh honey," I laughed. "That's nothing a little white wine can't fix." I held up a bottle of white wine I had brought for the 18+ crowd and she pulled down two glasses eagerly as I opened the bottle. I poured two glasses and she set me to work icing Mikey's chocolate birthday cake. "I feel slightly responsible for Martin's behavior though." I said as I worked on icing the cake. "He asked me to pick up the books from the library."

"I'll just be glad when all of this is over." she sighed.

"Won't we all?" I asked and she smiled gently.

"Why don't you go see if you can find the boys, I bet they're out on the dock." she said and I nodded.

"Why don't you see if you can drag Martin away from his reading binge?" I teased and she smiled lightly and laughed in a way that I knew meant it wasn't entirely a joke. "Hey guys!" I called out to the dock as I approached it.

"Carrie!" Sean called as he ran over to me. I laughed and picked him up allowing him to hug me tightly.

"Hi sweetheart!" I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Michael, honey, hop on out of there huh?" I called and he started to climb out of the small boat his parents had bought him for his birthday. "Need help?"

"No, I've got it." he insisted. After a moment he managed to climb onto the dock and walked over to me.

"What are you going to name it?" I asked as we walked back to the house.

"Shark bait." he joked and I lightly grabbed his arm.

"You haven't said that to your father have you?" I asked and he shook his head with a slight frown.

"No." he said and I nodded.

"Good, Michael, none of this is a joke, you know that don't you?" I asked and he nodded. I nodded and then wrapped my arm around his shoulders. "Well, we'll just have to think of a name better suited for her huh?" I asked and he smiled.

"Yeah." he said and the three of us went back to the house. After dinner the kids Ellen brought out the cake, and then she let Michael open the present I had brought him. It was a few books, one being the handbook to nautical terms and definitions, one being different a book of boating knots, and the last being one of my personal favorites. "Treasure Island?" he asked as he looked at the back."

"Oh sweetheart, that's a great book." Ellen said as she cleaned up the wrapping paper.

"I think you'll like it. It's for one of those rainy summer days." I explained and he smiled, before moving over and giving me a hug.

"Thank you." he said and then looked at Sean, the two of them ran off- probably to the boat and I looked at Martin who was kind of obviously preoccupied.

"So I take it things didn't go so well today." I said, referring to the city council meeting that had taken place that afternoon, making him raise his eyebrow.

"Aren't you supposed to know this stuff already?" he asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, I heard bits and pieces, but I want to hear it from you." I replied. He sighed and then nodded, before he went on to tell me everything that had happened at the city council meeting. "So, let me get this straight, there's a killer shark out there that no one will admit is actually out there, we witnessed it kill a ch- a person, and they're only closing the beach for a day?"

"Amity is a summer town." he said and I nodded.

"Sure, I know that, I spent most of my summers here." I shrugged.

"I thought you were born here." Ellen asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, I was, but my folks split when I was two, after that I lived with my family in Long Island, and spent my summers here." I looked back to Martin. "The point I'm trying to make is that this is a serious problem."

"I know." he said. "Not to mention Mrs. Kintner's reward to whoever kills the shark." he sighed.

"Every greedy kook is gonna be out there thinking they know how to kill a monster." I sighed and he nodded.

"Exactly."


	5. Chapter 5

"Caroline, honey," my boss, Mrs. Hunt smiled at me as I walked into the information booth that morning.

"Good morning Mrs. Hunt." I smiled at her.

"Honey, did you tell people not to swim at the beach?" she asked, making me wonder why she'd ask if she knew the answer.

"I said until this whole thing was over with I wouldn't advise swimming in the water." I said after a moment.

"Honey, people are freaking out, you don't need to cause any hysteria over nothing."

"Mrs. Hunt, this isn't nothing!" I said in shock. "Two people are _dead_!"

"The girl was an accident and the little boy was a tragic isolated incident." she insisted, shaking her head. I stared at her in shock, I mean, sure I could understand them being nervous, Amity was a summer town and all, but that didn't mean that we should continue to lead tourists to their death!

"Ma'am, I'm not going to lie and tell people to go in the water, it's like telling them to take a number and wait their turn!"

"And I'm not telling you to continue working here." she said and I stared at her in shock. "I'm sorry sweetie." she said. I nodded after a moment and turned, and walked out of the information booth. I took a few deep breaths and then went to the police office. Poor Polly was up to her ears in paperwork and phone calls, one look at me and she waved her hand, saying only to go to the harbor.

"Frank!" I called to Frank Silva, the harbormaster when I saw him. There were so many people around. All of them getting into boats, with guns, hooks, fishing rods, one guy was holding dynamite- I stayed away from him, though none of them looked ready to go sharking. "Frank!" I called and he looked at me. "Where's the chief?"

"In my office." he said and I nodded. I started to walk to the office before I saw Hendricks trying to talk some guys out of a boat they were trying to load eight men onto.

"Robert Lancer!" I shouted at him from where I was standing. "Get out of that boat right now!"

"Aw come on Carrie, I'm doin' this for us!" he grinned. "Three grand is a lotta money!"

"Yes, and divided by eight people is only three hundred and seventy five dollars!" I said impatiently. "If you don't lighten that boat up none of you will make it out of the harbor!" I shook my head.

"Aw, come off it." one of the guys shouted.

"Max Chilton, you stay out of it!" I shouted at him in a very no nonsense voice, making him instantly shut up.

"Caroline-"

"No!" I said to Robert who looked at his friends. Two of them talked lowly for a moment, before Robert and one of his friends climbed out of the boat. I nodded as they got into a different boat with some other people, one that would make it out of the harbor. If he was going to be an idiot, that was fine, but when he was being a reckless idiot and trying to get a boat that had no business holding eight people, and I knew that they were purposely ignoring Officer Hendricks, well, then I figured they wouldn't mind me interfering.

"Thanks for that." Hendricks said when he walked over to me. I nodded, and looked at him.

"Where's Martin?"

"What's wrong?"

"I got fired for telling people it's unsafe to swim in the water right now." I said and he sighed gently before putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry." he said, and looked behind us at the mass chaos of people. "But hey, maybe you could stick around and help out here; I know the chief needs it"

"Sure, if that's what he wants." I nodded, and we walked over to the office.

"Wait here, I'll go get him." Hendricks told me. I nodded as he walked into the office, and then looked to my left as someone waved to me.

"Hey Mr. Gardener." I said walking over to him.

"How 'bout it Caroline?" he asked. "Feel like gettin' your feet wet?"

"No sir Mr. Gardner." I shook my head. "I gave that up a long time ago."

"Look at all these guys, they're ready for bass fishing, squid fishing, crabbing, but ain't one of them ready for sharking." He shook his head and looked at me.

"Don't look at me like that Mr. Gardner. I'm not hurting, and I'm not going out there."

"You don't miss it?" he asked and I crossed my arms. "At all?"

"I-" I was luckily cut off by Martin walking out of Frank's boat house. "I'll see you around Mr. Gardner." I said before I walked away from him, and over to Martin.

"Oh, hey, Caroline, come here, I want you to meet someone." He said as I walked over to him.

"Look, Martin, I got fired today," I was saying as he spoke above me.

"This is Matt Hooper from the Oceanographic Institute." he gestured to the guy and I nodded to him.

"They're trying to shut up anyone who says the beaches aren't- Matt?" I stopped in realization of who I had just been introduced to.

"Caroline!" he grinned as I threw my arms around him.

"God, it's been what, five, six years?" I asked as I let go of him, and looked him over.

"Yeah, god at least." he nodded. "You look great." he said and I smiled gently.

"So do you." I said, and looked back at Martin.

"I take it you two have met." he said and I chuckled.

"Matt and I were neighbors growing up." I said and looked at my old friend. "We were best friends."

"I called the Institute to maybe get some help on the shark problem, and they sent out your friend." he said and I smiled at him.

"Well they couldn't have sent out someone better." I looked at Martin. "Ever since we were kids, Matt's been studying sharks like no tomorrow."

"Good." Brody said. "We were going to see the first victim."

"Good idea." I nodded, they started to walk away and I cleared my throat. "Look, Martin, I was fired today." I said quickly.

"What for?" Matt asked instantly and I smiled gently.

"For saying the beaches aren't safe." I said and Martin sighed.

"Chief she's done pretty good at getting people to listen to her about boat safety, I was thinkin' we could use her down here." Hendricks piped up.

"How about it Caroline?" he asked and I nodded.

"No problem." I said. "But most of these people don't know me; they won't listen to some woman shouting at them."

"They will if I deputize you." he said and I smiled lightly. "You can pick up a badge later." he said and nodded to Matt who smiled at me.

"I'll see you later." he said and I smiled and nodded, before I turned around and saw the guy trying to sneak dynamite onto his boat.

"I don't think so." I said as I walked over.

"Who the hell are you?" he grumbled as I took the dynamite from him.

"Caroline Quint, deputy Sheriff." I said and held my hand out expectantly. He sighed and pulled more dynamite from his pocket and handed it to me. Ben Gardner, also known as the sober, slightly more stable version of my father, was leading the flimsy armada out of the harbor, and as I watched them I could hear the men shouting at each other.

"_Get away from there, you goddamn fool!_"

"_What's the matter with you?"_

"You _want to swamp us, you crazy sonofabitch?_"

There was a small explosion, Mr. Crazy Harry had snuck aboard some fire crackers apparently. I sighed, and shook my head.

"_Guys what are they doing?_"

"_They're chumming!_"

"_Chumming? What in the hell's that?_"

"_They're tricking the shark out._" a guy shouted back as a dog barked from a different boat.

"_Three thousand dollars divided four ways is what?_" somebody shouted.

"_Watch your starboard! Jesus!_" shouted another. At that point I looked at Officer Hendricks and Frank Silva.

"They're all going to die." I smiled brightly at the two men.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys, so I was wondering what ya'll were thinking of the story so far? I hope you're enjoying it!

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About an hour and a half, maybe two hours later I had been given a badge, which I now wore happily on my shirt. I was talking to Hendricks, when Frank let out a low whistle. I looked up and saw boats returning, two of them were moving together, towing what looked like a very big prize. "I'll be right back." I said and moved into the office, I picked up the phone and dialed the police station, and Polly connected me to the city morgue.

"Chief Brody?" I asked and the person handed over the phone.

"Caroline, what's up?"

"Martin you might want to get down here. Some men are dragging up a pretty big sonofabitch."

"They caught the shark?" he asked.

"Well, they caught _a_ shark- Shit, I've got to go. Get down here." I said before hanging up. "Hey! "HEY!" I shouted at one man who was pulling into the harbor wrong. "You wanna try that again?" I asked him, and he looked up at me, but did as he was told.

"Hey, baby, did you see it?" Robert asked when he got onto the dock. I was busy trying to get the men to hang up the large tiger shark they had caught. He threw his arm around my shoulders, and I shrugged it off.

"I'm looking right at it Robbie." I said to him.

"Isn't it great?" he grinned. "That poor kid's mom is gonna be real happy." He put his arm around my shoulders again, making me shrug it off again, and step away from him.

"I highly doubt that." I muttered, not paying him too much attention.

"Ben Gardner caught that?" I heard chief Brody ask.

"Nah, nah, we caught it!" It was one of the men from the fan-tail launch. "We got it! We got him!"

"I should have been on that boat." I heard Robbie mumble.

"You shouldn'ta let your girl wear the pants." his friend laughed. I ignored them.

"Matt." I moved over to my old friend. "You know more about sharks. Is it the shark?" I asked and he looked at me, hesitation in his eyes.

"Caroline, it just doesn't add up." he said softly and I shook my head.

"I didn't think so." I said. "I mean, how could those idiots have caught the shark." I muttered. "I've seen this thing kill Matt, there's no way it would have gone down so easy."

"You were there?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I was there." I said softly.

"Come on!" Mr. Meadows from the town paper was calling. "I wanna take this shot. Kneel down, just like in high school. One row kneeling, one row standing." I looked up as my dad drove the Orca by, he lifted his hat lightly and I could hear him snickering to himself. I shrugged and shook my head as he looked everyone over. Mr. Meadows paused seeing me and Matt standing in the middle of his shot. "Young fella, could you step out of the picture?" several men shouted the order at Matt, and I started to move away from the picture too.

"Carrie!" Robbie shouted and pulled me towards him, he was standing, so I ended up in the picture, Robert's arm around me tightly holding me to him as he stood there grinning like an idiot. I pulled back when the picture had been taken and I looked over to Matt who gestured for me to follow him.

"What kinda shark is it?" one man was asking another.

"Your husband?" Matt asked me and I frowned lightly.

"Hardly." I scoffed.

"I dunno. I think it's a ma-ko." one guy said.

"You got divorced?" he asked and my frown deepened.

"I've never-"

"It's got a deep throat."

"Yeah, but what kind? What kind of shark?" the guy asked again, at the point both Matt and I looked over.

"Tiger shark!" we both said loudly.

"A what?" one of the men- who really didn't sound like a fisherman asked.

"What should we do?" I asked and he looked around.

"Where's Martin?" Matt asked and I shrugged. At that moment Martin walked over and grabbed Matt's arm.

"I want you to meet Matt …. Matt, this is Larry Vaughn, our mayor." the two shook hands. "Matt's from the Oceanographic Institute, and apparently an old friend." Brody looked at me and I nodded to the mayor.

"Nice to meet you," Matt said and the mayor decided to talk to a few men who were standing by. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Matt lowered his voice. "Martin, there are all kinds of sharks in the waters, you know. Hammerheads, white tips, blues, makos, and the chances that these bozos got the exact shark -"

"Oh, now, there's no other sharks like this in these waters!" he grinned, it was obvious- painfully obvious that Martin wanted that to be the shark, even to the point beyond listening to reason.

"Martin, you're not an expert." I said softly. "I know it's scary, a shark like that in the same water at the boys, but really, you need to think about it."

"Martin, Martin, it's a hundred to one-" Matt said softly. "A hundred to one, now I'm not saying that this is not _the_ shark-" Martin looked at him suspiciously. "It probably is," Matt continued quickly, knowing he could lose the chief at any second. "It probably is. It's a man-eater, it's extremely rare for these waters, but the fact is the bite radius on this animal is different than the wounds on the victim." Martin's face fell, and I could see he was really thinking about it.

"We just want to be sure." I said softly as the mayor started to walk back over.

"I just, I want to be sure," Matt said. "You want to be sure. We all want to be sure." He included the mayor in this last remark. "Okay? Now what I want to do is very simple. The digestive system of this animal is very, very slow. Let's cut it open. Whatever it's eaten in the last twenty four hours is bound to still be in there. And then we'll be sure."

"Maybe the only way to confirm it." Martin said to the mayor.

"Now, look, fellas,' Vaughn closed in, aware that anyone might overhear us. "Let's be reasonable, huh? This is not the time or the place to perform some kind of half-assed autopsy on a fish!' His voice grew more aggravated. "And I am not going to stand here and see that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock."

I was about to open my mouth to say something when I caught sight of someone walking towards us. I instantly grew quiet, as did everyone else on the dock when they realized it was Mrs. Kintner. "Chief Brody?" she asked as she approached him.

"Yes." he answered. I practically heard the smack to his face before I saw her hand move, it was loud, and shut up the remaining people talking, as did her sobs.

"I just found out that a girl got killed here last week. And you knew it. You knew there was a shark out there. You knew it was dangerous, but you let people go swimming anyway. You knew all those things. But still my boy is dead now..." She stared at him, sniffling, and letting out small sobs. "And there's nothing you can do about it. My boy is dead. I wanted you to know that." she said, then turned and allowed her husband to lead her away.

"I'm sorry Martin," the mayor said. "She's wrong."

"No she's not." Martin said effortlessly, before he walked away slowly.

"Alright fellas, let's cut this son of a bitch down before it starts to stink up the whole dock. Harv, you and Carl take it tomorrow and dump it in the drink." the mayor said, and the men started to cut down the tiger shark.

"Matt," I turned to my friend who looked at me. "Where are you staying?"

"Well, I'm not really sure." he sighed. "I came down here as soon as the institute asked me to, and I haven't been anywhere except with Martin. Know a good hotel where a guy can get a shower?" he asked and I nodded.

"Sure, let's go." I said and gestured for him to follow me. We got to Judy Taft's place, but she said she was all booked up, and according to her, so were the rest of the hotels on the island.

"Well I suppose I could go mainland, but it'd be a hassle." he sighed.

"Matt, why don't you stay at my place?" I asked. "I've got plenty of room."

"You sure?" he asked and I nodded.

"I think we've got some things to talk about." I said and he nodded.


	7. Chapter 7

Hiya, I just wanted to say thanks to That nerd next Door for reviewing. Having said that, I hope you like the story. This is kind of a filler chapter, but I like it. =)

I don't own JAWS, or any of the characters you recognize.

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I took him to where I parked my car earlier in the day and we drove out to my place, a secluded house on the beach. "Nice place." Matt said when we walked up to the house.

"Thanks," I said as I opened the door. We went inside and I ran my hand through my hair. "I bought it when my aunt died."

"Yeah, I heard about that. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright. I know you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but, I think it improved our relationship." I nodded and he smiled lightly.

"She was a bitch." he said and I laughed. "But she did raise you... So, she did something right." I smiled and bit my lip lightly before I turned away from him, a light flutter making itself known in my chest. Being close to him, especially when he seemed to know the right things to say, always did that to me.

"Come on, I bet you're tired."

"Yeah, a bit." he said and I lead him upstairs.

"Gus!" I called out into the house. The cat was hiding somewhere. Probably in the shadows so he could bolt out at the last second. Every now and then he did that. It prompted me to keep doors shut.

"Gus?" he asked and I nodded.

"My cat. I know they're not your favorite, but I love my little fur ball." he chuckled lightly and I opened the door to a guest bedroom. "Here, this is the guest room, there's a bathroom just through there." I pointed to the door as I went and opened the window for him. "The sheets are clean, and I'll bring some fresh towels in." I said as I opened the door to the bathroom.

"Thanks for letting me stay for the night." he said and I nodded.

"What was I going to do, make you ride the water taxi back to the mainland with a shark out there?" I asked and he smiled.

"Well I took my boat from the university." he shrugged and I raised my eyebrow. "But I like this better." he admitted. I smiled, then remembered something he had said earlier.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked this had been bugging me.

"Anything." he said as he set down his bag. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at him.

"Where did you get the idea that I had gotten married?" I asked.

"Well," he took his black beanie off and ran his fingers though his curly locks before he turned and looked at me. "To be honest, your aunt."

"My aunt?" I asked and he nodded.

"You moved out while I was at school, and when I came back I called you, tons of times, each time she kept saying you weren't home, and you weren't available, until one day she said you were on your honeymoon. And then she politely told me to take a hint, and stop harassing you." he nodded and I stared at him for a long time before I burst out laughing. "I'm glad the single most painful moment of my life is amusing to you." he said and I shook my head.

"No, no Matt, it's not that." I said finally. "I just can't believe her, that _Bitch_!" I gasped. "I wrote you- I wrote you and said I had moved because I couldn't handle living with her anymore and I had moved in with my father... But your parents sent the letter back, with a note asking me to stop leading you on. God, it makes sense now." I sighed and shook my head, before I looked at him curiously. "The... Single most painful moment in your life?" I asked as he sat down next to me. He paused, and looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Yes." he said and I smiled gently before I leaned over and lightly kissed his cheek.

"I've missed you Matt." I admitted and he smiled.

"If anything, I can say this shark is good for one thing." he said and I smiled. He chuckled and tilted his face towards me, catching my lips lightly. "God it couldn't have come at a worse time." he groaned as he lay down on the bed. I lay down as well, resting my head on his abdomen. He ran his fingers through my hair and sighed deeply.

"Why's that?"

"Because tomorrow I'm leaving."

"So you go back to the institute, what's so bad about-"

"I'm not going to the institute, I'm going on board the Aurora." he said. "It's an eighteen month excursion at sea for studying sharks." I looked up at him and he nodded. "I know, I've been planning it for months."

"Do you have a radio on board?" I asked and he smiled lightly.

"You'd wait for me?" he asked and I shrugged.

"Unless I see something more interesting." I joked and he sat up. "I'm kidding." I said as I sat up too.

"Do you know where Martin lives?" he asked and I nodded.

"Sure, I babysit for him sometimes." I said and he nodded.

"We need to go talk to him. There's still a man eater out there who won't give up."

"Okay, uh, let me go change." I said and sat up. I went to my room; I changed, and went downstairs where Matt was sitting at the kitchen counter, Gus sitting on the counter in front of him.

"Should we pick up some wine?" he asked and I looked at him curiously.

"To talk about a shark?" I asked with a small frown.

"Well, you know my parent always taught me never to show up empty handed." he reasoned and I shrugged and nodded.

"I guess it'll help soften the blow when you tell him there's still a shark. Sure, the wine cellar is through that door." I pointed to the wine cellar door. He disappeared through it, and I thought for a moment before I moved to the door. "Don't touch the vintages!" I called down the stairs. I could hear him laugh and he reappeared a moment later.

"These okay?" he brought them upstairs and I looked at them, before nodding.

"Fine." I said and he nodded before we went to my garage, I was getting into the car when Matt pointed to my motorcycle.

"You still have that thing?" he asked and I nodded. I could remember the summer I went back home on it, all tan and beat up, stitches still in my leg from getting clipped by a hook. My aunt instantly hated it, which made me love it even more. And of course Matt and I would drive around on it everywhere. My dad thought it was hilarious, doing things like buying me a motorcycle just to piss off my aunt.

"Of course."

"Does it still run?" he asked and I smiled.

"Wanna find out?" I asked. He stared at me for a moment before he smiled. I got onto the bike and kick started the motor, before he got on, he tucked one bottle of wine under his arm and used his free hand to hold onto my waist as I pulled out of the garage and drove to the Brody residence.


	8. Chapter 8

I knocked on the door to the kitchen, before I stepped into the house. "Caroline," he hissed and I rolled my eyes at him. "Uh, hi, the door was open. Mind if we come in- Oh." he stopped himself from awkwardly speaking to Ellen who hugged me tightly.

"What is going on?" she asked and I sighed into her shoulder.

"Ellen, this is Matt Hooper, an old friend, he's from the Oceanographic Institute." I turned to Matt.

"Oh hi, Ellen Brody." she introduced herself.

"Your husband's home?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yes, he is."

"I'd really like to talk to him." Matt said and Ellen looked back at the dining room.

"Yes, so would I." she stepped away from the door, and lead Matt back to the dining room where I could see Martin sitting, not looking at us. "Come in, come in can I get you some coffee? Would you like something to drink?" she offered and he held up the bottles.

"No, no. No no no, nothing, thank you, thank you."

"Oh, wine, how nice." Ellen said as Matt moved into the dining room. "Old friend?" she whispered to me and I rolled my eyes with a small smile.

"Old boyfriend." I nodded and she smiled.

"Where's he staying?"

"With me." I admitted with a small blush. She raised her eyebrows and I rolled my eyes, but joined the men in the dining room.

"How was your day?" Matt finally asked and I couldn't help but chuckle at the same time as the two of them.

"Swell." Martin finally said dryly and Matt nodded.

"Yeah. I brought- uh, red and white, I didn't know what you'd be serving." he gestured to the two bottles.

"Oh that's nice." Ellen said and Matt nodded, before noticing an untouched plate of food.

"Is anyone eating this?" he asked and I realized it must have been a busy day for him, running around from place to place; there had been almost no opportunity for him to settle down and get a bite to eat.

"Feeling any better?" I asked Martin who shot me a look that stated obviously no.

"My husband tells me that you're in sharks." Ellen said suddenly and all of us looked at her, before Matt let out a small chuckle.

"Uh, excuse me, well, yes, I-I've never heard it quite put that way. But, yes, I am. I love sharks." Martin reached for the red wine and I slid it over to him, making it less of a reach.

"You love sharks?" Ellen asked as if she had never heard of such a thing.

"Yeah, I love them, I love them." he nodded and looked at me. "When I was, what, twelve?" I nodded.

"Yeah, you were twelve, I was eleven." I nodded.

"Right, when I was twelve years old, my father got me this boat and we went fishing off of Cape Cod. I hooked a scup and as I was reeling it in, I hooked a four and a half food baby thresher shark, who proceeded to eat my boat." he said and Ellen laughed lightly, making Matt chuckle. "He ate my oar hooks and my seat cushions. He turned an inboard into an outboard. He even tried to eat Caroline, she was smaller then, obviously." he said and I rolled my eyes, but nodded. "Scared us to death, we swam back to shore. When we were on the beach, I turned around and actually saw my boat being taken apart."

"Ever since then, he's been studying sharks- Yes, please." I nodded to Martin who had wordlessly offered me some wine.

"Yeah, and that's why I know that I'm gonna go to the institute tomorrow and tell them that you still have a shark problem here." he said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his tie.

"Why do you have to tell them that?" Martin asked as he twisted the corkscrew around in the neck of the green bottle.

"Sorry." Matt said without hesitation.

"I'm sorry, I thought that... You told me the shark was caught," she looked at her husband and I raised my eyebrow. "I- I heard it on the news." she looked back at Matt. "I heard it on the cape station."

"They caught _a_ shark." I said and Matt nodded as he put back on his glasses.

"Not _the_ shark, no." he said. "Not the shark that killed Chrissie Watkins, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together, and looked at Martin. "And probably not the shark that killed the little boy; which I wanted to prove today by cutting the shark open-" he was cut off by Martin pouring the wine into a large glass. "You- You may want to let it breathe for a little- Nothing, nothing." he cut himself off when he realized Martin was filling the large glass to the top with wine. Martin then robotically poured three more glasses of wine, and slid two of them over to Matt, the fuller of the two glasses he slid over to me.

"Thanks." I muttered and he nodded.

"You know," he looked from me to Martin. "You're going to be the only two rational people left on this island after I leave tomorrow." Matt said, almost casually.

"Where are you going?" Ellen asked.

"I am going on the Aurora." he said shortly. His left hand found my right hand and he rested it there on top of mine.

"The Aurora, what is that?" Ellen asked.

"It's a floating asylum," he joked making her smile. "For shark addicts. It's pure research, eighteen months at sea." I laced my fingers through his and he looked at me, and gave me a small, tight lipped smile.

"Martin hates boats." Ellen touched her husband's arm. "Martin hates water. Martin, Martin sits in his car when we go on the ferry to the mainland." she looked from Matt to her husband. "I guess it's a childhood thing, there's a clinical name for it, isn't there, I can't-"

"Drowning." Martin said sullenly as he picked the extra foil off of the bottle. "Listen," he turned to Matt. "Is it true most people get attacked by sharks in three feet of water, about ten feet from the beach?" Matt nodded.

"Yeah." he said.

"And that before people started to swim for recreation, I mean, before sharks knew what they were missing; that a lot of these attacks weren't reported?"

"That's right." Matt looked at Martin curiously, I could see his mind at work.

"Now this shark that- that- swims alone-"

"Rouge."

"What's it called?"

"Rouge." Matt said and Martin nodded.

"Rouge, yeah." Martin nodded and Matt gave me a brief look. I could tell he was slightly impressed by Martin, who had apparently been absorbing everything he read in the books I brought him. "Now this guy, he keeps swimming around in a place where the feeding is good, until the food supply is gone, right?"

"It's called territoriality." Matt explained. "It's just a theory that I happen to agree with." Martin sighed, and looked up from his bottle of wine.

"Then why don't we have one more drink and go and cut that shark open?" Matt smiled, nodded and threw back the remainder of the wine in his glass.

"Martin, can you do that?" Ellen asked and he looked over at her.

"I can do anything. I'm the chief of police." he looked at me. "Right deputy?" Ellen and Matt looked at me and I smiled at Martin.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hey ya'll, I'm sorry I haven't updated this story in so long. I got distracted with my Bruce Banner stories, and I guess I just forgot about this. Well, here's chapter 9, and I'm going to try to be better about posting this story. Please don't forget to review if you like it!** _

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"I'll drive, but we're taking your car." I told Martin who nodded in agreement. I hopped into the driver's seat and Martin got into the passenger's seat leaving the back seat for Matt. I turned on the car and started to drive to the boathouse, the radio started playing Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline making Matt reach forward and lightly trace a hair that was falling down my shoulder. I smiled in the rearview mirror at him and he smiled back.

"So, wait, you're an islander." Martin said and I looked at him.

"I was born here, yeah." I nodded.

"So, then how have you two known each other for so long?"

"My mom left my dad when I was about four years old, and we moved, he stayed." I shrugged. "My family had a house right next to Matt's and since he was only a year older than me, we were fast friends." I explained.

"And, if you're so close, why haven't you seen each other in so long?" Martin asked as he took a drink from the almost empty bottle of red wine he had brought along. The white wine was untouched and rolling around the floor at his feet.

"Because sometimes people can't stand to see other people happy." I looked at Martin who seemed to think about this answer for a moment. I looked back at the road, and he looked at me.

"When you first came here, you came back to live with your dad?"

"Yeah."

"What did you do?" he asked and I chewed on my bottom lip lightly, before answering.

"I helped him with his work."

"You hunted sharks?" he asked and I nodded.

"Yeah." I answered. "Yeah, and I helped take those city people, businessmen who need to catch a sailfish, or a bluefin tuna, or hell, even a small shark or two, to feel justified in being a man. There's nothing manlier then killing, right?" I asked and the two men in the car were silent. "Yeah, I worked with him for awhile, but I drew the line when he started navigating the Orca stone drunk." I shook my head, and pulled into a parking spot at the marina. "We're here." I said.

"Caroline, you don't have to come in here for this." Matt offered and I raised an eyebrow at him, before smiling. He grinned and we walked into the boathouse, where they were keeping the shark carcass. "My boat's over here." Matt said and he went to his boat, he went under for a moment, and then returned. "Here, Martin, hold this." he handed out a flashlight, which I took and handed to the chief. "Caroline, I'm gonna need your help, you've done this before I assume."

"You assume correctly." I nodded, and he handed me a pair of thick, but worn gloves, and he climbed out of his boat, slipping on a pair of gloves, holding a knife in his teeth. We went inside, to where the tiger shark lay, dead and stinking and he knelt down in front of it. Martin sat back, a little bit and Matt explained to me what he wanted me to do.

"Unless you'd rather cut?" he asked and I smiled.

"Cut the damn fish." I said and Martin chuckled.

"Spoken like a true Quint!" he declared. Matt positioned himself in front of Martin, kneeling on one knee, to make it easier for him to move as he cut the shark open. I was standing behind the shark, ready to bend over the lifeless body and try to hold it open to make it easier on Matt when he did get it open, to fish around (no pun intended) inside of the stomach to see what the shark had last eaten. I tried not to think about what he would find if those bozos had killed the right shark.

"We start in the alimentary canal," he pierced the shark's thick skin with the tip of the sharp knife, and started to drag the knife along in a quick sawing motion. "And open the digestive tract." he groaned, obviously having a hard time with it. "Right there Caroline." he said and I sank my thankfully glove clad hands into the cut along the shark and pulled upward, groaning slightly.

The smell was horrible, and a milky white film was now seeping from the shark's stomach, onto the floor, my hands, Matt's clothes, and everywhere else. Martin took a step back, and Matt started to scoop the remnants of the shark's mast meal out of its stomach.

Half a fish, two whole fish, Matt gasped in some air through his mouth; it was obvious he hated the smell as much as I did. I was trying not to breathe as I held the wound open. He threw a mashed up large tin can out of the stomach and then exclaimed. "Just like I thought!"

"What?" Martin asked, I looked over the body of the shark at the license plate Matt was now wiping off.

"Came up in the Gulf Stream, from southern waters." he tossed it over to where Martin was kneeling with the light.

"He didn't eat a car did he?" Martin asked looking at the Louisiana plate.

"No." Matt said, and chuckled. "Tiger shark's like a garbage can. It'll eat anything. Somebody probably threw that in the river" he searched around the stomach for a moment more, before he pulled his hands out and grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the carcass of the once deadly animal, he flopped down next to Martin, pulling me down with him, and let out a sigh. "That's it." he gestured to the shark, and looked at Martin who was staring at the shark glumly.

"You know what that means Martin." I said and he nodded.

"I've got to close the beach and call the mayor." he said hollowly.

"You've got a bigger problem than that Martin." Matt panted. "You've still got a hell of a fish out there, with a mouth about this big." he held his hands apart, like one of those business men bragging about the size of a fish they had caught.

"How do we confirm that by morning?" Martin asked and Matt looked at me, and nodded, before standing up, he helped me up and Martin stood up, following behind us.

"If he is a rouge-"

"Which by all definition, he is." I interjected

"And there's any truth to territoriality at all-"

"Which obviously there is."

"We've got a good chance of spotting him between Cape Scott and South Beach."

"Where are you going?" Martin asked as we walked along.

"We're going to find him right now, he's a night feeder." Matt explained.

"On the water?" Martin asked unhappily.

"Well if we're looking for a shark, we're not going to find him on the land."

"Yeah but I'm not drunk enough to go out on a boat." Martin protested as Matt climbed down the ladder, to get to his parked boat.

"Yes you are." Matt countered.

"No I'm not." Martin tried to sound serious.

"Yes you are."

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can." Matt contradicted Martin's protests and I climbed down with him.

"Woah, woah, wait, Caroline, where are you going?" he asked and I looked up at him.

"With Matt."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am." I said and he frowned. "Martin, I've been doing this my whole life." I explained.

"Come on." Matt said as he helped me into the boat. "Martin, let's go." he said and Martin stared down at us.

"Give me a minute." he said, and went outside.

"Think he's making a run for it?" Matt asked me and I rolled my eyes.

"It's be kind of hard without his keys." I said innocently and he smiled. Martin came back a minute later holding the bottle of white wine, which was now open. He climbed into the boat and Matt quickly turned it on, and pulled out of the boathouse before the chief could change his mind.


	10. Chapter 10

I took the smelly gloves off and stuck them with Matt's between us. I was sitting with him while he steered the boat through the fog. "Hey, below deck there should be a bag of pretzels, will you grab them?" Matt asked me and I walked down from where we were sitting, past Martin who was wearing a life vest, and looking a little green around the gills, and below deck, where I found said bag of pretzels, and offered one to Martin, who shook his head. I made my way back to Matt and sat down next to him, and opened the bag for him. He took one and munched on it as we sailed on, Martin started to drunkenly talk to himself, and Matt looked at me.

"Crazy day you've been having huh?" he asked and I smiled lightly.

"You could say that." I said. "I can tell you, it's one I won't be forgetting for quite some time." he chuckled and I took one of the pretzels.

"So, who was that guy earlier?" he asked and I looked at him.

"That guy?" I asked.

"The one I thought was your apparently nonexistent husband." he said and I realized he was talking about Robbie. He had pulled me into the picture next to the tiger shark.

"Oh," I sighed. "Him." Matt nodded and I sighed. "He's just this guy, Robbie Lancer. Amity's golden boy." I rolled my eyes and took another pretzel.

"Seems to like you." he said and I looked at him.

"He and I went out once or twice, but he's not my type." I shook my head.

"Seemed like the kind of guy your aunt would approve of."

"Since when do I make my choices based off of who my family would approve of?" I asked and he looked over at me, and smiled lightly. "I don't mean to snap." I muttered and he nodded. "I just- I guess with you here and everything, it just makes me realize..."

"Realize what?" he asked and I let out a small laugh.

"It makes me realize just how much I've missed you." I said and he smiled. "And it makes me realize just how much I'm going to miss you when you leave tomorrow." I sighed. He echoed the sigh and looked at me.

"I wouldn't ask you to wait for me." he said and I looked at him like he was mad.

"I already said I would." I said, and then paused. "Unless you'd rather I didn't."

"What, and stay just friends?" he asked and I nodded. "Caroline, you know I-"

"I'm telling you, the crime rate in New York will kill you!" Martin declared from below, making us look away from each other.

"We'll talk later." Matt said, neither of us wanting to air our laundry in front of the intoxicated chief of police.

"There're so many problems, you never feel like you're accomplishing anything. Violence, rip-offs, muggings. Kids can't leave the house – you've got to walk them to school. But in Amity, one man can make a difference. In twenty five years, there's never been a shooting or a murder in this town."

"No kidding," Matt said, looking down at him. "Want a pretzel?" he held one up, before shoving it in his mouth.

"Where are we?" Martin asked and Matt pointed around the area.

"We're right in the stretch where he's been feeding." he explained. Martin looked back at the TV's, and then to Matt.

"Can you get _The Late Show_ on this thing?"

"No, it's a closed circuit TV system, I have underwater cameras fore and aft." Matt looked forward, and Martin came up to where we were sitting.

"Who pays for all this stuff? The government? The institute? This stuff costs a lot of money."

"Well, I, uh, I pay for this mostly myself actually." Matt admitted, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"You're kidding."

"No." Matt said simply.

"You rich?" Martin asked, half joking.

"Yeah." Matt looked at Martin, who then looked at me suspiciously, then to Matt again.

"Yeah, how much?"

"Well, personally, or the whole family?" Matt asked and I smiled lightly.

"What about you Miss Quint?" Martin asked and I looked at him.

"What about me?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Doesn't make any sense, I mean they pay a guy like you, to watch sharks?" Martin asked.

"Well, uh," Matt chuckled lightly. "It doesn't make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either." he shot back.

"It's only an island if you look at it from the water."

"That makes a lot of sense." Matt retorted. A few minutes passed in silence, before an electronic beeping came from one of the radars on the boat.

"What's that thing doing?" Martin asked.

"Well, it's a fish finder." Matt said, looking down at it. "It's probably just a schooling of mackerel, or something all clumped together." he mumbled to himself. The buzzing started to speed up, and he looked up. "Wait a minute." he looked into a different part of the electronics, and then looked back up. "There's something else out there."

"What is it?" Martin asked and Matt pointed.

"About a hundred yards, south-southwest." he said, and steered the boat in the direction. When we got closer he told me where to point the spotlight, standing very close behind me as I pointed it, he drew in a breath when the light hit a very familiar looking boat.

"Ben Gardner's boat, that's Ben Gardner's boat." Martin said quickly.

"You know him?" Matt asked as he straightened out, and pulled up alongside the boat.

"It's all banged up." Martin was saying. "Sure I know him, he's a fisherman."

"He's the sober, slightly more rational version of my father." I said and Matt sighed.

"What happened?" Martin asked as I moved the light over the wreck.

"More importantly," I said softly. "Where's Mr. Gardener?"

"Look Martin, Caroline, I gotta go down there and check their hull." Matt said decidedly.

"Okay, what do you need me to do?" I asked and he smiled as he rubbed my shoulder.

"Wait a minute, why don't we just tow it all in?" Martin asked.

"We will, we will, I just gotta check something out." Matt moved down the stairs, to the room below. "Caroline, hit the lights for me." I did as I was told, then watched the light that Martin was shining over the boat as he inspected it from the safety of the boat we were in. Matt came back out dressed in scuba gear, and holding a ladder. "Caroline," he said and I walked down to where he was.

"Let's tow it in." Martin said and Matt chuckled.

"Don't worry Martin. Nothing's gonna happen." He sat on the edge of the boat while I handed him gear, and he started getting his body ready for the dive by doing breathing exercises.

"What are we supposed to do while you're gone?" Martin shined the light at Matt.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Matt ordered. "Don't touch any of the equipment. I'll be back in two minutes." I handed him a flashlight and kissed his cheek, making him smile before pulling his mask over his eyes, did his breathing exercise once or twice more and took a deep breath, jumping into the cool salty water below.


	11. Chapter 11

"You always been in love with him?" Martin asked as he followed Matt as best he could with the flashlight.

"As long as I can remember." I said and he looked at me.

"So what happened?"

"When I finished high school, Matt was in his first year of college. Before he went to the institute." I explained. "I moved out of my aunt's place, I was sick of her telling me how to live my life, who to date, who Not to date, all that." I waved my hand and he nodded. "So, I go, and I guess Matt kept trying to call me, and my aunt kept saying I wasn't home or I wasn't available, until, according to him, and to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't put it past her, she tells him I'm on my honeymoon, and to take a hint and move on with his life." I sighed, and took the bottle of wine from him. I took a long drink, and then cleared my throat. "Meanwhile, I've been dealing with Quint and moving in there and all of that, and finally I get a chance to mail Matt a letter, and what happens? His folks send it back and tell me to stop leading Matt on." I sighed and took another drink of the wine before handing the bottle back to Martin. He looked at the label for a minute, before looking at me.

"So, Hooper's loaded, and you two were neighbors." he said and I nodded, knowing where he was going. "Are you rich Caroline?"

"Yeah." I said simply.

"How much?"

"When my mom dies, I inherit the entire estate." I said, and cleared my throat. "Couple million. She's still alive, but I'm currently in charge of the estate." He had been taking a drink, and instantly started to cough.

"Are you serious?" he asked. I was about to answer, but at that moment Matt came sputtering to the surface. I looked over the side of the boat as he swam over to us.

"What happened?" I asked as he yanked off his mask, and started to climb the ladder.

"I had-" he gasped. "An accident."

"What do you mean an accident?" Martin asked.

"I mean I had it Martin, I had it." he panted, climbing over the side of the boat.

"Sit down Matt." I said as he tried to explain.

"Ben Gardner," he said between breaths of air. "Is dead." Martin and I looked at each other grimly and I sighed.

"What about the accident?" Martin asked, and Matt explained what happened while I found him a towel.

"You dropped it!?" Martin shouted when I came back out with the towel and Matt instantly rose to his defense.

"You would too if you were down there!" he shouted back.

"There's no way Vaughn is ever going to listen to us without it!" he shouted.

"It's not my fault!"

"Well whose fault is it!?"

"No ones." I said and they both looked at me. "It was like Matt said. An accident."

"Oh sure, take his side." Martin scowled and I smiled at him.

"Well, now I know where your son gets his stubbornness." I said and he pouted. "Look, let's tow the boat in, maybe there will be something else we can find in the morning, there's no use in us standing around shouting at each other here, is there?" I asked and both men shook their heads. "Right, now, shake hands and make up." I said. They both stared at me and I looked back. "I could have said kiss and make up." I said and they both grinned, before looking at each other. They shook hands and I nodded. "Okay, let's do this."

"Martin, there's a rope under the seats right there, Caroline you can tie a decent knot, right?"

"Of course." I said and he smiled.

"Great, I'm gonna swim over there, toss me the rope when I'm at the bow eye." he said and I nodded. He got back into the water as Martin walked over and handed me the rope. He looked at Matt in the water and I could see him getting a little nervous.

"Matt!" I called, and he looked back, I held up the rope and he nodded, so I threw it to him, keeping hold of one end. He set to work tying it around the bow eye, and then returned to the boat.

"Caroline, you can keep charge of the line, right?" he asked and I nodded. I had tied our end around the cleat on the back of the boat, but being in charge of the line, I was in charge of making sure we didn't give it too much slack in case the rope should get caught around our propeller, which would in turn send Matt back into the water for a third time.

"Alright guys." Martin said when we got back into the harbor. He went to the harbormaster's office as I tied the boat down to the pier, then took the hook Matt was handing over to me, and I pulled Ben Gardner's boat in, and tied it down as well. About half an hour later the coroner, was there, as well as some other people to get the body out of the water. "Guys, you don't need to stay here any longer." Martin said coming over to us. Matt and I were sitting on his boat, he had changed back to his soggy jeans and shirt, I was now wearing his jean jacket and was half asleep on his shoulder.

"You don't want us to stick around?" I asked, and Martin shook his head.

"No, we're gonna pull the body out in a second, you don't need to see that." he had obviously sobered up quite a bit.

"I drove you here." I said and he nodded.

"Hendricks is gonna drive you home." he said and I nodded, and looked at Matt who had been deep in thought.

"See you tomorrow Martin." I said softly, as I took Matt's hand, and we walked to Lenny who was waiting for us. He lead us to the car, no one said a word as we went back to my house.

"Is it true- Ben?" he asked as Matt and I started to walk back to the house. I paused, looked at Matt, and then nodded. He let out a low breath, and I walked over to him, and put my hand on his arm.

"We know what we're dealing with now." I muttered. He nodded grimly. "Good night Lenny." I said, and walked back to Matt, who wrapped his arm around me, and led me back to the house.

"I'm gonna take a shower." Matt said as he pulled away from me. I nodded, and scooped some food into Gus' food bowl. He was winding around my ankles, and instantly went to the food bowl I had scooped for him.

When I finished I went to my bathroom and filled the tub with hot water, then sank into it. I let out a low groan and let my mind go over everything that had happened during the day. When I got out I dried off and pulled on a pair of underwear, a tank top and a pair of cotton shorts.

It was a humid night, and I opened the windows, I was staring out at the water when there was a light knock on the door. I looked back as Matt walked into my room. He walked over to me, his curly hair was damp, and he smelled fresh and clean, making me smile lightly as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

I smiled lightly, resting my forehead against his shoulder, and wrapped my arms around his middle tightly. He sighed into the embrace, and followed me over to the bed. We climbed into bed, and he moved in close to me, wrapping his arms around me as we both passed out.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning I woke up to a rapid knocking on the door. I untangled myself from Matt's arms and stumbled down the stairs, brushing my hair from my face I opened the door, and was surprised to see Robbie standing there holding two paper cups, and a bag. "Morning." he kissed my cheek as he stepped into the house.

"Uh..." I stood there for a minute, before I turned and followed him into the kitchen. "Robbie, look-" I said quickly and he looked at me.

"I know this is a little sudden, sure we've only been on a few dates, but everyone in Amity knows how I feel about you and everything, so I was thinking we'd make it official. I know you're pretty busy with everything that's going on, but do you think tonight we can-"

"Robbie." I said loudly and he looked surprised at me. "Robbie, I'm sorry, I should have told you after our first date, but I think-"

"_Caroline,_" Matt called from upstairs as he walked down the stairs. "_What's Martin's number?_" he stopped at the bottom of the stairs in his boxer shorts and white tee shirt. "Oh, sorry." he said, and Robbie stared at him for a minute.

"You're Caroline's brother?" he asked finally and I let out a small laugh.

"Robbie, don't be dense." I said softly. He looked at me, and I sighed gently. "I'm sorry, I tried to tell you."

"You weren't telling me that you love me?" he asked and I felt my eyes grow wide.

"Matt," I turned to him, just as the phone started to ring. "Matt, will you get that?" I asked and he nodded, before I grabbed Robbie's hand and led him to the back porch.

"So, he's _not_ your brother."

"No." I said softly. "He was my best friend and my first boyfriend." I gave him a meek smile.

"You never stopped loving him, did you?" he asked and I shook my head.

"I'm sorry." I said and he nodded.

"Well, I just made an idiot of myself." he chuckled and I shook my head.

"I'm truly, honestly sorry." I sighed; he nodded, and let out a sigh, running his hand through his dark hair. He looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself, turned, and walked off of my porch, and to his car.

"Your husband upset?" Matt asked as he poured some coffee grounds into the coffee maker, and set it on the stove.

"That's not funny Matt." I said and he smiled gently. "What was on the phone?"

"Martin, asking us to meet him at the station." he said and I nodded.

"Okay." I said, feeling bad about Robbie. "I'm gonna go change."

"Caroline," he called and I paused on the stairs. "I'm not going."

"What?" I turned around and looked at him.

"I have a Great White here." he shrugged. "It'd be kind of redundant to go study sharks when this one is proving several theories I'd be trying to prove out there for eighteen months and there's no promise I'd even see one shred of evidence proving me right." he shrugged. "I'll call the doctor after we meet with the mayor." I smiled lightly, and then raised an eyebrow.

"And when did you come to this conclusion?" I asked and he smiled.

"I started to doubt going the minute I saw you trying to talk to Martin. The moment I knew, I was holding that tooth in my hand." he explained, walking closer to me. I smiled gently, and then swallowed.

"You don't say?" I asked and he smiled. "I guess I won't have to wait for you after all." I said, before I leaned in and kissed him.

He kissed me back, slowly at first, but then with more passion, the last time we had kissed, we were both inexperienced teenagers, now the both of us knew what we were doing, and boy did he know what he was doing. I felt him press us against me as we kissed; I ran my fingers through his hair as his hand moved up my waist, towards my chest, when I heard a whistle from the stove.

"Shit." I muttered when he pulled away and turned off the stove.

"We've uh, got to go meet Martin." he reminded me and I nodded, before I moved to the stairs.

"I'm gonna go get changed." I said and he nodded as I went upstairs. Gus was sitting on the kitchen counter staring at him.

"Don't give me that look." he said to the cat, before he went upstairs to the guest room, and found his clothes. He got dressed and did everything he had to do, then went downstairs where I was pouring a mug of coffee for him.

"The road's not too bumpy." I said as I handed it to him and finished off the coffee in my cup. I paused, before handing him a second mug of coffee, knowing Martin would probably need it. Matt followed me out to my car, and I got into the driver's seat, before turning the keys in the ignition and driving to the Sheriff's station.

"Oh, good you're here." Martin said when we walked into the office. Martin looked hung over, tired, and like he was running on fumes.

"I brought you a coffee." I said and handed him a mug of coffee I had brought with us for him, it looks like I had been right.

"Ah, thanks." he said after taking a long drink. "Let's go, Mr. Hooper needs to be back at the institute before this evening." he stood up and went to the jeep.

"Go where?" Matt asked, ignoring the fact that the chief thought he was still leaving the island that afternoon.

"The bluff." Martin said, and Matt looked at me curiously.

"Real touristy point above south beach." I explained. "First victim was found there. Watkins." I nodded, then looked at Martin as we walked outside, ignoring Polly's calls of where were we going. "Why're we going up there?"

"Mayor just called me and asked me to meet him there. Something about the sign." he shrugged and I nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

We parked across the street in a pull off spot, and walked over to the bottom of the grassy hill where Larry Vaughn was standing, waiting for us. He had a pack of cigarettes out and plucked one from it, before he turned and started to climb the hill, the three of us on his heels.

"What in the hell is going on?" he asked, thus opening a door for what we hoped would be a floodgates of revelation when he found out the truth about the shark.

"This is a great white Larry, a real big one. Any shark expert will tell you it's a killer, a man eater." Martin was explaining to Larry who was chewing on the end of his unlit cigarette.

"Look, the situation is that apparently a great white shark has staked a claim in the waters off Amity Island." Matt said pointing to the water. "And he's going to continue to feed here as long as there's food in the water."

"There's no limit to what he'll do." Martin said quickly. "I mean we've already had three incidents."

"Two people killed within a week?" I asked and shrugged. "It's bound to happen again."

"It's happened before, Jersey beach, uh, 19-"

"1916"

"1916, _five people were killed_-"

"In _one week_!" Mayor Vaughn closed his eyes, a look of almost disappointment on his face, before he opened then again.

"Tell him about the swimmers!" Martin said to Matt.

"A shark is attracted to the exact kind f splashing and activity that occurs whenever human beings go in swimming, you cannot avoid it!"

"You open the beaches on the fourth of July, it's like ringing the dinner bell for Christ sakes!"

"Look, Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Vaughn," Matt stepped to the side, trying to direct the Mayor's doubtful gaze away from the semi hysterical, and sleep deprived chief of police. "I pulled a tooth, the size of a shot glass out of the wrecked hull of a boat out there." he pointed to the beach. "And it was the tooth of a great white!"

"Mr. Mayor," I said and he looked at me. "I was there, Ben Gardner is dead." I said softly. He looked at me for a long hard moment, before turning his gaze back to Matt.

"It was Ben Gardner's boat, the boat was all chewed up. I helped tow it in, you should've seen it!"

"Where- Where is that tooth?" Vaughn asked. "Did you see it Brody? Quint?" he looked between us.

"No, I didn't see it; he dropped it on the way in."

"I had an accident!" Matt defended himself sharply, still a little sensitive about the whole ordeal.

"And what did you say the name of this shark is?" he turned looking at Matt.

"It's a _carcharodon carcharias_. It's a Great White." Matt said, his patience obviously growing thin.

"But you- You don't have the tooth?" Vaughn seemed fixated on the whole tooth thing. "Look, we depend on the summer people here for our very lives." Vaughn said in a very patronizing way to Matt who was starting to get agitated.

"You are not going to have a summer, unless you deal with this problem!" he shouted.

"We're not only going to have to close the beach, we're going to have to hire someone to kill the shark!"

"Is that why you brought her along?" Vaughn asked nodding to me. "Win me over so you guys get a cut of that ten grand?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked and Martin waved the question off.

"We're going to have to tell the coast guard!"

"Mr. Vaughn, you'll have to contact the shark research panel." Matt spoke above Martin who was getting slightly hysterical again. "You'll have to rig this entire harbor-"

"I don't think either one of you are familiar with our problems!" Vaughn defended himself.

"You mean familiar with _Your_ problems?" I asked and he shot me a look. "Like the fact that _three_ of your summer lease contracts went down the drain?" I asked.

"Uh, I think I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and _bites you in the ass!_" Matt screamed at the man. I put my hand on his shoulder. "_Now wait a second, wait a second!_" I took my hand away quickly. "There are two ways to deal with this problem! You're either going to kill this problem, or you cut off its food supply!"

"Larry we have to close the beaches." Martin said, sounding tired of trying to reason with the man.

"This man is a shark expert, okay, he knows how they think, and he is more than willing to call the institute, go on the record and say the beaches aren't safe!" I said pointing to Matt who looked at me, then nodded.

"Brody?" Vaughn pointed to the billboard, once featuring a pretty girl smiling, riding an inflatable raft, was now being chased by a large black shark fin, her smiling face had been turned into a look of terror as a crude speech bubble came from her mouth, saying _'Help! Shark'_. "Sick vandalism!" Vaughn stated, making me let out a laugh, and run a hand through my hair. "That is a deliberate mutilation of a public service message!" Matt turned to look at the billboard, then smiled, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"How In God's Name Can You Manage To See Where You're Going With Your Head Shoved That Far Up Your ASS?!" I shouted at him, Matt held my arm as I took a step towards the mayor, who ignored me.

"Now I _want_ those little paint happy busters caught and hung up by their buster browns!" he declared. Matt let go of my arm and took a few steps away, running his hand through his hair, before walking back.

"That's it." he smiled as he patted Martin's shoulder. "Good bye. I'm not gonna waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a _hot lunch_." he nodded, and took my hand. "Come on Caroline, I'm gonna see you later Brody." he said, and started to pull me away. At this point, I was more than happy to follow.

"Please, don't do this." Martin caught Matt's arm.

"Mr. Vaughn," Matt said calmly as he stepped back over to the ignorant mayor. "What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, uh, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all."

"Even when it's asleep, the great white keeps swimming, it's always alert, always ready to feed." I threw in, making all three men look at me. Martin because he had obviously not read that before, Matt because he was probably impressed, and Mayor Vaughn because- Well, probably to just give me the look he gave me which was a look of let the men-folk talk.

"She's right, now, why don't you take a long, close look at this sign?" Matt let go of my hand and stepped closer to the sign, pointing up at it. "Those proportions are correct."

"You'd love to prove that wouldn't you? Get your name into the _National Geographic_." he smirked and I groaned. Matt looked at Martin, then to me, and started to laugh.

"Obviously when I said you're a shark expert I wasn't clear enough, if I knew I had to mention the number of times you're been featured in Nat Geo, maybe he would listen to us." I said and he laughed, wrapping his arms around me. He sighed as he rested his forehead on my shoulder and I ran my fingers through his hair. "I've read your articles, by the way." I muttered and he sighed before straightening up.

"Maybe we should get copies for Vaughn, it _may_ convince him I know what I'm talking about."

"-If you fellas are concerned for the beaches, you do whatever you have to to make them safe, but those beaches will be open this weekend." I overheard Vaughn state before getting in his car and driving away. I looked at Matt who let out a long sigh, then looked at Martin.

"Did he just say we could do _Whatever_ to keep the beaches safe?" I asked and they both looked at me. I smiled lightly and looked at Matt who was sitting on a rock, thinking. "What gauge, did you say we'd have to line the harbors with?" He looked up at me, then thought, before looking at Martin.

"He said whatever." Martin agreed, and Matt stood up, and followed us back to the jeep. A loud horn blared in the distance and we looked to see the large boat of tourists pulling into the harbor.

"Here they come," I said and the men looked at me. "And we've got to do whatever we can to make sure all of them leave." I sighed.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Okay ya'll, here's the next chapter, in this chapter, Caroline shows she knows how to get a crowd on her side, especially the Crab Point guys. Hope you like it!** _

* * *

"Ellen," Martin called to his wife when the three of us walked through the door. Martin had put Hendricks in charge of the station for the afternoon, and we were now trying to get as much help together as we could for the next day. "_Ellen_, I need the extra extensions in here, and uh, you guys want something to drink?"

"Coffee."

"Coffee."

"And throw on an extra pot of coffee."

"What's going on?" Ellen asked when she came into the living room with a few extra phones.

"Mayor Vaughn gave us permission to do whatever we wanted to keep the beaches safe tomorrow." I informed her as Matt picked up a phone and dialed a number. Soon the three of us were all of different phones, having three different conversations.

"Okay," Martin was said into the phone, "Now I want to know how many men you're going to send."

"Doctor, Doctor," Matt was saying, his voice edged with exasperation. "There is no _need_ for me to come to Brisbane when I have a Great White Shark _here_."

"Whaddya mean you don't know where he is? He either there, or on the water, which is it? Are you seriously going to make me come down there and look for him myself? If I have to come down there, it's not going to be pretty. Fine, I'll find him myself!" I shouted and slammed the phone into the receiver.

"I'm telling you we need men to patrol the swimming area," Martin sounded desperate. "We've got to have help, anyone with a gun or a boat."

"I've got a gun." I said rising my hand, Martin nodded, then hung up the phone.

"You're on the beach with me, the locals are raising prices on boats and heads like crazy." he groaned, and I nodded.

"I've got to go find Quint, if you want while I'm down there I'll talk to a couple of guys, see if they're willing to help out."

"The Crab Point guys?" he asked and I stood up.

"Yeah, I'll go ask around, see if anyone's willing to help."

"What's up with the crab point guys?" Matt asked, he had been put on hold, and was cradling the phone between his face and his shoulder, Martin looked at him.

"Friends of her father's." Martin explained briefly.

"You can't go there dressed like that!" Matt shouted at my button down shirt and short shorts.

"You're right." I nodded and tied up the bottom of my shirt, showing off a little bit of my stomach. "Thanks." I leaned down and kissed him quickly, happy that my bike was still there.

"No, I- Yes, I'm still here." he said into the phone as I walked outside, I got on my bike and turned it on, before kick starting the motor and riding out of there. I got to my dad's house and got off the bike, there was no one home I discovered, and sighed before I went to Harry's. I parked and walked inside, my dad wasn't there, but a ton of tough locals I knew slightly were drinking, or eating lunch.

"Caroline," the bartender frowned seeing me. "What's up?"

"You seen my dad?"

"Naw, ain't seen him since yesterday."

"Anyone know where the Orca's going today?" no one answered and I sighed before I took a seat at the bar. "D'you hear about Ben Gardener?" I asked, and he nodded as he popped the bottle on a beer and handed it to me.

"Mayor said he ran adrift."

"Ben Gardener? Run adrift?" I scoffed and took a drink of the cool beer. I couldn't believe how early some people started, but keeping it up was half of what I was doing. "I mean come on; the guy knew the area like the back of his hand." I shook my head. "I mean, when I found that boat, there was no rocks around." I shook my head and a few people looked at me.

"You found Ben?" the bartender asked and I nodded.

"Oh, the mayor didn't tell you? Me and that shark expert and the chief went lookin' for the shark last night."

"Mayor said that tiger shark killed them people." one of the men said.

"Wilkins, right?" I asked and he nodded. "Yeah how's Daisy?" I asked, referring to his little girl who was around the same age as Sean, I had her in the after school day care.

"Excited to go to the beach tomorrow." he said pointedly and I let out a small laugh.

"Oh I wouldn't be doing that." I chuckled, and shook my head. "Huh, you couldn't get me in that water if you paid me."

"Why not?" another one asked and I looked at him.

"Well, because..."

"Gregory."

"Gregory, because when we were gettin ready to tow Ben Gardner's boat in, my shark expert friend, he decides to take a look at the hull, see if there was like a leak or something, and he gets down there and finds a hole this big," I held my hands apart, showing how bit Matt showed me us after the shark autopsy. "And there's this big ass tooth jammed in the wood. It was so deep in there; he had to cut it out. Let me see a shot glass." I said and the bartender handed me one. "Imagine if I was to make a knife outta this bastard." I said holding the large shot glass up. "That what the tooth looked like." I nodded.

"Mayor said it was the tiger shark." another guy said. "Said it was that shark that ate the little boy."

"Yeah, he did." I said with a small nod. "Yeah and I believed him, we all did." I nodded and a few guys nodded. "Except me and that shark expert guy, we went down there last night and we cut that sonofabitch open. Biggest thing I found in here, a license plate from Louisiana." I said and a few of them nodded, these were shark men, they knew Tiger sharks would eat anything. "But that shark expert kid, he goes to that institute, y'know? That tooth he found was from a great white." I said and the men started to mutter to each other.

"Vaughn's been really sketchy about this from the beginning." one guy, Monroe piped up.

"Yeah, you'd head he lost three lease agreements?" I asked with a small laugh. "The poor bastard's so scared of having to live like he isn't the mayor, he's sayin' anything he can to make sure we think the water's safe." I scoffed. "You think he cares if anyone else gets eaten?" I shook my head. "No, all he cares about is gettin tourists. What happens after they spend their money, isn't his concern."

"That bastard." someone growled.

"So you know I've been working with the chief," I said and they looked at me curiously. "And we decided if Vaughn's not gonna tell anyone about the water, we're gonna get some guys out there on boats, guns ready, and we're gonna make sure that son of a bitch fish doesn't get one more person." I nodded and a couple of men chattered in agreement. "But then, freaking Vaughn, he on my ass about it. Because the island can't afford to bring guys in. Can you believe that shit?" I scoffed. "I'm just trying to keep the beach safe for the kids. I saw that Kitner boy get killed," I looked down and then looked at the bartender, and handed him my shot glass, which he filled up. I shot back the shot, and sighed deeply. "No one should have to see a kid get killed like that." I muttered. "Harry, how much do I owe you?"

"Don't worry about it Caroline." he said softly and I nodded as I stood up. "I'd keep talkin to you guys all day, but Vaughn is on my ass right now about getting people to volunteer tomorrow. I gotta go find my dad." I said and started to go.

"Caroline, can anyone volunteer?" someone asked and I turned around.

"Yeah, I mean, if you got a boat and a gun and don't wanna see any more dead kids... Yeah." I nodded and he nodded.

"Time you need us down there tomorrow?" he asked and I smiled lightly.

"You're not bullshittin me right now, right? Because the last thing I need is some bastard telling me he's gonna help, then backin out, and having me get in trouble with Vaughn." I said and he shook his head. BRBrBr "You tell me when to show up, and I'll be there." he nodded seriously.

"Why don't you call Brody, and ask him. He's in charge you know. I just help out." I shrugged and he nodded, as did a few other guys. "Look, I gotta go find Quint. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"You can count on that." he nodded and I smiled.


	15. Chapter 15

"What the hell did you do?" Martin asked when I got back to his house.

"Why?"

"I've had like fifty guys call here asking to volunteer to make the beaches safe." he shook his head as I took a seat on the couch next to Matt.

"Have you been drinking?" Matt asked and I smiled.

"Men tend to get a little pissed when one of their own gets killed and some people don't have the balls to say how it really happened." I said and looked at Martin. "How'd the coast guard go?"

"They're sending us some men, and a helicopter." he nodded and I smiled.

"Good," I looked at Matt. "Your professor pissed?"

"Livid." he nodded. "But he'll get over it." he sighed. "Look, Caroline, I've got to go to the institute and pick up some things for tomorrow. Wanna come with me?" he asked and I let out a sigh, before looking at Martin.

"Do you need me?" I asked and he shook his head.

"No, go ahead, I'll be here." he said and I nodded.

"How are we getting there?" I asked Matt who had taken my hand.

"Why don't we ride to the harbor, and we'll take the boat?" he asked and I nodded in agreement.

"Okay, sounds good." I said. I got onto the bike and he got on behind me, and held on as I drove to the harbor. We got there and I parked the motorcycle, and turned it off. I took the keys and walked with Matt to his boat. He stepped on and I stood on the dock, watching him as he moved around, turning everything on, and getting it ready.

"Can you cast off?" he asked and I started to untie the boat from the dock. I tossed the ropes to him, and he caught them.

"Permission to come aboard captain?" I asked and he smiled looking at me, before holding his hand out. I took it, and hopped onto the boat.

"Hi." he said, pulling me close. I smiled and lightly brushed my lips against his.

"Hi." I said. He started to lean in to kiss me, when a voice on the radio came on.

"SHQ to Fascinating Rhythm, Hooper do you read me?" He let out a sigh, and then walked to the radio.

"This is Hooper." he said to the person on the other line.

"Hoop, what the hell is going on?!"

"Look I-"

"You're dropping out of the Aurora? You've been planning this for close to a year!"

"I know, I know, but what's the point of me going out there to test theories and possibly not see anything to prove or disprove any of the theories, when I've got a live shark right here, proving all the theories I've got!" Matt asked and looked at me. I rolled my eyes and moved over to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and started to lightly place feather kisses on his neck, making him let out a small sigh, and run his fingers through my hair. The person on the other line was talking a mile a minute, before I kissed an area right underneath Matt's ear, at the corner of his jaw, making him groan softly.

"Les, Les!" Matt said into the radio. "I'm on my way over there, I'll see you soon." he said before turning off the radio.

"God, finally." I said and he shook his head, letting out a small whine when I moved away.

"They're just scared of losing the money I've pledged to help the excursion." he said and I looked at him curiously.

"You really love it there, don't you?" I asked and he nodded.

"Wait till you see it Caroline," he smiled, and moved up the stairs to the front of the ship. He started to pull the boat out of the harbor and looked back at me as I watched Amity Island get smaller. I had my arms crossed over my chest and slowly turned away from the island. I noticed him watching me and he smiled, before patting the seat next to him. I walked over and sat down next to him. He took my hand and laced our fingers together.

"Lester, I know, okay, I know this is a big deal and I know it's something I've been planning for a long time!" I heard Matt shout from the room he had disappeared into.

I was sitting on a chair in the hallway, waiting for Matt to come back out. Every now and then someone would give me a look, and I smile at them as they passed, but for the most part everyone sort of ignored me. I let out a small sigh, and tapped my fingers against the bench in the cool white hallway nervously. I felt like I was back in school, waiting to see the principal. I let out another sigh, and rested my head against the wall behind me. I looked up at a door on the other side of the hall and let out a small sigh, before I stood up, my curiosity getting the better for me for the time being.

I stepped into the room, and looked around, it was a viewing room for a large tank, the entire wall to the left of the door was made of thick glass, inside was an underwater ecosystem, big rays, beautifully colored reef fish, and a large shark. I stared at it as it swam among the fish; I had never seen them like this before. The sharks I usually saw were dead, or in the process of dying. But seeing this one, this hammerhead swimming, alive and powerful, it was-

"Remarkable isn't he?" a voice snapped me from my thoughts and I looked at the man who had come into the room. He seemed to be in his fifties, with almost white hair, and kind blue eyes. He was a good deal taller than me, and was wearing a brown suit. He walked in and stood next to me, looking into the tank, watching the shark swim. "Caught him off the coast of Florida, about two years ago." he said. "Been studying him ever since, he's a great hammerhead." he informed me, not that I didn't already know.

"I caught one of those off the coast of Florida when it got in one of my nets." I said, and held out my arm. "Nearly took my arm off too." I said, showing off the scar I wore around me left forearm.

"Caroline?" a voice called and I looked towards the door.

"In here Matt." I called and he walked over to the door. He walked in and smiled seeing me there.

"Hey." he said and I smiled.

"Hi." I said, and walked over to him.

"Mr. Hooper, who's your charming friend?" the older man asked.

"Oh, Dr. Stone," Matt said to the older man. "I didn't see you there." the older man nodded and Matt put his hand on my lower back. "Caroline, this is Dr. Richard Stone, he's the head of one of the research teams we have here, Dr. Stone, this is Caroline Quint, an old friend of mine." he introduced us, and I shook the older man's hand.

"Very nice to meet you Miss Quint." he said and I nodded.

"Likewise Doctor." I said, and looked at Matt. "Everything okay?" I asked and he let out a long sigh.

"Yes, they've filled my spot, which was good because they had a waiting list, they're all leaving tonight, and I've informed them that me pulling out doesn't mean I'll cease funding for the excursion." he said and I took his hand.

"Yes, I heard about that Mr. Hooper," Dr. Stone said. "Pulling out of the Aurora, my goodness you must have a very big reason for doing so."

"Yes sir." he nodded. "A great white."

"A great white?" he asked, interested. "Where?"

"Off the New England Coast, about an hour and a half from here." he explained. "It's killing people sir." he said and Dr. Stone sighed, then looked back at Matt.

"Why haven't we heard about this before?" he asked and I looked down slightly, ashamed of what the mayor had done.

"The question isn't why haven't we heard of it before, it's what do we do now that we know." Matt said, and told the story of what happened with the tooth, and I filled him in on the story of Chrissie Watkins. After another half hour of talking to Dr. Stone he said he would inform the shark research panel, but he would allow Matt to still work on the island and report back everything that was happening.

"Matt," I touched his arm and he looked back at me. "We really should get back to the island." I looked at the watch on his wrist. "We've got a lot of work to do." He nodded and I smiled at Dr. Stone. "I'm sorry sir, but-"

"No, no, not at all." he said shaking his head. "I completely understand, I have a lot of work as well." he sighed. "Where to start?" he smiled.

"You can start by praying." I told him and they both looked at me curiously. "Because we're going to need all the help we can get."


	16. Chapter 16

"So, you want me on the beach or with Matt?" I asked Martin as we looked at a map he had layed out on his coffee table.

"I want you with me, Matt will have plenty of help with the other boats." Martin said. "You said you've got a gun right?"

"Yeah."

"Beautiful, you're going to need it."

"Isn't that a little disconcerting, a deputy walking around with a shotgun on her back?" I asked and Martin nodded. "I think I'd rather give it to Matt..."

"Better safe than sorry." he muttered.

"What if it doesn't come around tomorrow?" Ellen asked.

"It will." we all say as we looked at the map. I looked up at her, and realized Michael was standing with her. He turned and quickly went to his room. I looked at her guiltily and she sighed before she turned to follow her son.

"Martin," I said to him and he looked at me. "Matt and I are going to go catch a few hours. You should do the same." He sighed and Matt looked over at me. I nodded and he stood up.

"Yeah, um, Caroline's right. Get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day."

"I'll see you guys in a few hours." Martin said and we nodded. We walked out and got into my car, I drove us back to the house and let us in through the kitchen where I fed Gus and opened the fridge.

"Matt, honey, you hungry?" I asked as he sat at the counter.

"Famished." he said and I pulled some food from the cabinet. I turned on the stove and started to boil a pot of water before I started slicing vegetables, and throwing them into a smaller pot. When the water boiled I added dried pasta and turned down the heat, then added pre canned tomato sauce to the vegetables and let it simmer for a bit while I went downstairs. I brought back up a bottle of red wine and finished cooking before handing him a plate.

We took our food to the living room and turned on the TV. Matt sat on the couch, and I sat with my back against his chest, between his knees. He sighed when he set down the plate I had given him on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around, me. I smiled, and looked back at him before I leaned up and lightly kissed him. He responded by catching my lips in a longer kiss. I sighed and lay back against his chest.

"Let's go to bed." I said and he nodded. I stood up and turned off the TV, and the lights then took his hand and followed him upstairs. I stripped down to my underwear and tank top and got into bed, he followed in his boxers and t-shirt. I moved up next to him, he lifted his arm up allowing me to rest my head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me, he held me like that until I fell asleep, dreaming of the nightmare of the day to follow.

* * *

"_Caroline_," I jolted awake what felt like a minute after I closed my eyes, but judging by the fact that it was getting light, I knew I had slept the entire night through. I looked at Matt who had already showered, and was half dressed. "I'll go make some coffee." he said and I nodded as I threw the blankets back. I went to the bathroom, showered, brushed my teeth and hair and put on some sun block. I got dressed and was pulling on some shoes when Matt came upstairs with a strong cup of coffee. "Feeling better?" he asked as I took a long drink of it.

"I won't feel better until the shark is taken care of." I said as I went to my closet. I pulled down a box and opened it up. Inside was the gun I had bought as protection years ago. I checked my ammunition, and then pulled down the gun bag, I slid the gun into it and zipped up the end, before putting extra ammo into the side pocket. I slid it over my shoulder and nodded. "Ready?" Matt nodded and took my hand as we walked downstairs. Gus watched us from his spot on the couch. I made sure to scratch his head quickly before we walked out.

An hour later Matt was out in the water on his boat with a few other boats, two of them holding men belonging to the National Guard, some of the other boats had a few guys from the university. I was walking with Brody along the beach. We had just finished dispersing the volunteers, and giving them jobs. "Brody to Gotcha, come in." he listened as one of the volunteers followed behind us.

"The guys from the TV station on the mainland are here." he informed us.

"Oh, all right, I'll get to them later. Brody to Scutbucket, please come in." he listened to them. "Okay. Brody to Daisy, what've you got?" he listened to them speak. "Fascinating Rhythm do you read me? Come in Hooper, what do you see?"

"Nothing here Martin- and nothing on Sonar." Matt added quickly. I smiled lightly and looked at the tv cameraman that Brody was avoiding. I had given Matt my gun since he was going on the water. Besides, we had decided with the helicopter and TV people around it would be best for me not to have a gun around on the beach.

"Caroline, you think you can step up as a representative of the Amity police department?" Martin asked and I looked at him.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked and he shook his head.

"Look, you'd be doing me a huge favor, I've got to go talk to Mikey." he said, his eyes resting on he figure of his son and Mickey's friends who were carrying the small boat to the water.

"You owe me." I joked making Martin smile. I walked over to the reporter.

"Hi, are you a local?" he asked, sticking his microphone in my face.

"Actually I am. My name is Caroline Quint, I'm the representative from the Amity Island Police Department, I was told you wanted to talk to me." I said and he nodded eagerly.

I stepped to the side when I finished my interview; Mayor Vaughn stepped over to me. "Miss Quint," he said softly to me. "If this is some way to make us hire your father, you can tell him I said-"

"Whatever you have to say to my father you can do just that. Say it to him." I said sternly.

"Excuse me, Mayor Vaughn?" the reporter asked. I looked away from the mayor and walked towards Martin, just as there was a scream from the water. I looked at him, and then heard a whistle, people started screaming and the two of us took off towards the beach, not that it was easy. Someone elbowed me in the stomach as they ran away from the water. I winced, but did the only thing I could think of to do, I started pulling people from the water.

A woman held her child to her chest, screaming, but not moving. I grabbed her by the arm, making her flail out her arm, smacking me in the face, her ring clipping my chin as she did. I grabbed her and pulled her from the water, ignoring the blood dribbling down my chin, a few people were falling, being trampled into the water, I hoisted a few children up, and got them out of the water, the last of the people rushing out, a few people dragging an old man who seemed to have suffered a heart attack. I watched as someone who claimed to be a nurse knelt down in front of the old gentlemen.

"Please, please, move back. Let's move back, please. Give these people some air. Please move back, move back." Martin said to everyone, making them move back, giving the paramedics who had come over some room.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" one of the paramedics said to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, my hand was over my chin, but blood was seeping out between my fingers.

"You should come over here so I can look at this cut." he said and I shook my head.

"No, no, I'm fine." I said, earning myself a stern glare.

"Ma'am, really, it's best to make sure everything is okay, it'll just take a minute." he promised. I sighed and looked at Ellen who was walking over.

"Tell Martin they took me by force." I said. She nodded and I followed the paramedic to a first aid tent.

"Let's take a look," he said as I moved my hand. "Well I bet that smarts huh?" he asked.

"I don't know, a little." I shrugged, my eyes staying on the water.

"What happened?"

"Some woman flipped out and punched me when I tried to drag her out of the water."

"Panic makes people do crazy things." he said and I nodded. "What's your name?"

"Caroline Quint." I responded. People were starting to move down the beach. I frowned, watching as they all moved, going towards the pond.

"Well Caroline, seems like you need stitches." he said.

"What? No, it's just a cut." I shook my head. "Just slap a band aid on it and let me-" I stopped talking when I sat Martin running down to the pond. "Michael." I whispered.

"What was that?" he asked his back to me. I looked at him, then back to the pond before I got up and took off running. I ignored him as he yelled at me to come back, adrenaline pumping in my veins; I stopped short seeing Martin pulling an unconscious looking Michael from his two friends who had pulled him from the water. I instantly grabbed two towels I saw on the sand and rushed forward with them.

"Michael!" Ellen shouted in horror. "He's dead!"

"No he's not." Martin said as he wrapped his elder son in towels. "He's in shock." Ellen dropped to her knees and pulled her son onto her lap. I could see Sean crying heavily, no one paying him any attention, I moved to him and picked him up, and he threw his arms around my neck and sobbed onto my shoulder.

"Shhh." I whispered to Sean as Brad the paramedic ran over. "Please, help him." I looked at Michael.

"You need stitches." he said to me, then ran over to Michael. I held Sean, letting him cry, and looked at Ellen and Martin. Martin was looking out to the open water, and Ellen was trying to talk Michael out of his shock. Another paramedic came over with a stretcher and they put Michael on it before carrying him to a waiting ambulance.

"Sean!?" Ellen asked suddenly.

"I've got him!" I shouted wearily. I could taste blood and my head was spinning. Ellen ran over to us and pulled Sean from my arms as Martin knelt down next to me.

"Caroline, are you feeling alright?"

"Fine." I said quickly. "I'm fine, go with Michael." I insisted. He looked at Ellen who was going to her car to follow the ambulance to the hospital.

"I'll ride with Michael!" he called and she turned around and ran to the car, holding Sean. He helped me up and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me along to the first aid tent.

"Caroline," Brad said as Martin sat me down.

"Go, go with Michael." I insisted. He went and got into the ambulance they were loading his son into.

"How much water have you had to drink today?"

"Not enough." I mumbled, Brad nodded, and inspected my chin before he spoke to one of his co-workers.

"Caroline, you're dehydrated, not to mention you've probably got heat stroke." he said.

"Not the first time, won't be the last." I mumbled. He pressed a cup of water into my hand, and then gestured to a stretcher that was being wheeled over. "No, no no." I said shaking my head.

"You need to go to the hospital."

"This is payback for me running out on you." I muttered as another paramedic helped me onto the stretcher. "Watch those hands mister." I grumbled.

"Caroline!" it was a friend of Matt's whose name I didn't remember. "Caroline, are you alright?" he asked as they started to put me into the ambulance.

"Tell Matt they're taking me to the hospital!" I called, wincing as my chin started to hurt. I guess the adrenaline had worn off because I was suddenly feeling weak and in pain. He nodded as they closed the doors to the ambulance, and drove off.


	17. Chapter 17

"One more, you're doing very good Caroline." Dr. Young said as he pulled a stitch through my chin. "How are you feeling?" Dr. Young asked.

"Numb." I said, and then let out a small giggle. He had injected my chin with lidocaine, making everywhere from my bottom lip down to my chin completely numb.

"Well we're almost done." he said. He had also given me an IV of fluids for my dehydration. About five minutes later he finished the stitches and because the IV bag was finished he removed the needle from my arm, and taped a cotton ball over the spot.

"Finished already?" I asked and he smiled.

"Come on Caroline," he said taking my arm.

"Oh, Dr. Young, there you are." a nurse said as we walked out. "Are you Caroline Quint?" she asked and I nodded.

"That's me."

"There's a young man looking for you." she said, then gestured to someone. Matt came running over from the nurse's station, but stopped when he got to me, he touched my face lightly before he leaned in and kissed me.

"God, Caroline, I was so worried." he said, wrapping his arms around me.

"Matt, I want to go home." I whined. The lidocaine was making me a little loopy.

"Of course." he said and looked at Dr. Young. "Thank you so much."

"Are you going to be keeping an eye on her?"

"Yes sir."

"Make sure she takes two of these a day, once in the morning, once at night and with food, and these when needed for the pain." the doctor said handing him two pill bottles, and Matt nodded.

"Alright, alright, seriously, I hate this place, can we go now?" I asked. "No offense doc." I said and he nodded.

"I understand." Dr. Young said. "Schedule an appointment sometime soon for a few weeks and we'll get those stitches taken out." he said and I nodded before Matt wrapped his arm around my shoulders and lead me out.

"I freaked out I was when Josh said you were going to the hospital." Matt said softly and I looked up at him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, then rested his chin on top of my head. "I'm just glad you're okay." I wrapped my arms around his middle and lightly kissed his neck.

"Hello?" Matt answered the ringing phone groggily. "Hey Martin. Yeah, she's fine. No, she's asleep. Yeah I was sleeping." he sighed. "No, no, what's going on?" I moved a little when I heard Matt talking, and sighed looking down at myself. I had been so tired after getting home I had fallen into bed in my shorts and tank top. I rolled out of the bed and slipped my denim shorts off. Matt watched as I stretched, and then made my way to my mirror. I flicked on a lamp and looked at the clock on my desk. It was a little after ten in the evening. I sighed, and then looked at myself in the mirror. The four stitches across my chin stung like hell, probably because when I woke up I was sleeping face down in my pillow. I groaned lightly as Matt hung up the phone and looked at him.

"What's going on?"

"The mayor has given permission to hire your father to kill the shark."

"Good. If anyone can do it, it's Quint."

"How are your stitches?" Matt walked over and looked at them. "They hurt?"

"Like a bitch."

"You should probably take your pills now." he said looking at the clock. "Come on I'll make some dinner."

"You, cook?"

"Sure." he said and I followed him downstairs. I sat at the bar after feeding Gus who was meowing impatiently at me. "So when did you get a cat?" he asked.

"I've had Gustav about two years now." I said after a moment of thought. "I needed someone after I left the Orca."

"Why did you leave?" he asked and I cleared my throat.

"Because my dad was boating drunk." I said softly.

"Caroline, our entire lives you complained about your dad boating drunk." he said, and moved over to me. "What happened?"

"Your pot is overflowing." I pointed out to him. He turned and quickly turned down the heat under the soup he was heating up for me. Not exactly cooking, but for someone who never cooked before, it was good. Matt seemed to understand and dropped it, we had some food and I took the pills the doctor told me to take. "Matt," I said softly as I thought about something. "The mayor hired my dad to kill the shark right?"

"Mmhmm." he said and I frowned. "Is that what Vaughn was talking about the other day? When we were trying to get him to close the beaches. He said something about me getting a cut of ten grand?"

"Yeah, uh, apparently your father offered up his services for ten thousand dollars."

"Jesus." I muttered. "No wonder everyone's staring at me like I'm some sort of nuisance."

"I don't think that. Martin doesn't think that." Matt offered as he set a bowl of creamy mushroom soup in front of me.

"No offense, but you guys aren't the only people on this island." I said softly.

"The crab point guys don't think that." he said and I smiled. "Not that I really like them thinking about you at all..." I laughed lightly, and then winced at the tugging on my stitches.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Hey ya'll, this is the longest chapter yet, you get to find out more about Caroline's past, and her family as well as why she left the island as a child. Hope you like it!** _

* * *

When I woke up, I was tucked into Matt's arms, my leg was hooked over his waist and he was snoring. "Matt," I said softly. He grunted in response making me smile. "Wake up."

"Why?"

"We have to go see Quint today."

"In that case..." he said, as he pulled a sheet over us. I laughed and pulled back. He groaned as I pulled away. "No," he held his hand over my leg. "It's too early to wake up, it's only seven." he whined. "Come on, five more minutes."

"Okay," I agreed. "Five more minutes." I started to pull away, but he held onto me, wrapping one arm around my waist, and using the other to hold my leg where it was. "Matt…"

"Five more minutes, remember?" he asked into my hair.

"Fine." I said and let him pull me close. "Are you sleeping?" I asked a minute later when his hand moved up my hip, his fingertips tickled lightly, making me squirm.

"Yes." he said, though I could hear a smile in his voice. "I'm just having... A very good dream." his hand slid up my tank top.

"Matt," I said warningly.

"A great dream," he continued, catching my lips with his. I grinned into the kiss. "The best dream." he opened his eyes, smiled and then continued to kiss me. I stopped trying to pull away and let my fingers run through his hair. I let out a small groan when the phone rang. I reached over him, and answered it while he kissed my neck.

"Yeah?" I asked breathlessly.

"Is this Caroline Quint?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Ms. Quint, this is Dr. Stone from the university, we met a few days ago?"

"Yeah, yeah, Dr. Stone, I remember." I said making Matt pull back quickly.

"This is the number Matt Hooper left for me to contact him, is he available?"

"One second Dr. Stone." I said and looked at Matt who was pulling the sheet off of the two of us. "Babe, are you available?" I asked softly.

"Yeah, thanks Caroline." he said, sitting up. I lay back on the pillows as he took the phone. "Dr. Stone, hi." he said into the phone quickly. "Yes sir. Yes. The island has hired someone to catch the shark. Yes sir. Yes, I understand. I will be going with them." he said and at that I sat up quickly.

"Excuse me?" I asked. He finished his conversation and hung up the phone a moment later.

"Caroline, I have to go."

"No, Matt, you really don't." I said.

"The shark research panel has requested I stay on this one."

"Why can't they send someone else? Someone who's done this before?"

"Isn't that why they're hiring Quint?"

"The only reason they're hiring Quint is because he's the only one dumb enough to go after it, and because the shark killed everyone else off." I explained and he sighed.

"What's the real reason you don't want me to go?"

"You've never had any experience with my father. You don't know what he's like." I explained.

"Well Martin is coming as well, he'll probably be pretty good if the chief of police is around, right?" he asked and I stared at him for a second before I got out of bed and walked into my bathroom. After showering and pulling on some clothes I brushed my hair into a ponytail and looked at my arm, the large scar over my left arm, the few other scars I had that were visible right now, none of that had mattered to me before, and it didn't matter to me now.

"You never told me what happened." Matt said as we drove to Martin's.

"What?" I asked and looked at him.

"With your parents." he continued and I thought for a moment before I shook my head.

"No, I didn't." I said and cleared my throat. "They met when my mom was very young. Her friends were Islanders, and she had come to visit them for the summer. After a week of being here and knowing my dad she declared her love for him; She climbed onto a bridge, over the water, where he was fishing with his friends, and told him how she felt, she told him she would rather die than not be with him, and that she was prepared to do just that."

"What did Quint do?" he asked softly and I looked at him.

"He laughed." I said and he stared at me. "He thought it was funny, he married her that day." I said and shook my head. "He uh, he didn't realize how sick my mom was when he married her, they had me pretty quickly, my mom's family objected to the marriage, and me, of course, uh, for four years it was all over the place with my mom, she would be the perfect wife and mother for a few months, and then she would decide that she needed to be an artist, or a model and she would get these crazy ideas about how I was holding her back- Quint loves to tell a story about her pulling a knife on us when I was about three." I nodded and Matt stared at me.

"She was the one who brought you to live with your aunt." he said softly and I shook my head.

"No, she left; going to pursue a dream of becoming a folk singer, and my dad took me to live with my aunt. A few weeks later my grandpa tracked my mother down to Ohio, living in a hotel room with all of the windows boarded up, she hadn't bathed or eaten or anything in far too long, and uh, Grandpa had her committed." I nodded. "She signed the divorce papers in a moment of lucidity and my dad told my dad's family he wanted me summers and holidays, but otherwise I should stay with them."

"Why didn't you ever tell me that?" he asked as we pulled up outside of Martin's house.

"Because you know how I was raised with them Matt," I said looking at him. "You don't talk about mental illness and you sure as hell don't admit someone in the family has an illness." I shook my head and he took my hand comfortingly. "I think it contributed to my dad's drinking. But the drinking hasn't helped his disposition, as you'll see." I nodded and Martin walked outside, he got into the car and smiled at me.

"Thanks for driving Caroline, I think Quint would react better to you being there." he said and I nodded as I started to drive.

"No problem Chief, but don't expect any miracles with him." I said as we drove. "Morning." I nodded to Quint's mate who nodded at me. "He in?" he nodded again and I opened the door while Matt and Martin both looked at the mate momentarily, and then followed me inside.

"What are you doin' here?" Quint asked when I walked inside the covered patio.

"Nice to see you too." I said sarcastically.

"You're not usually one for pleasantries."

"The want to hire you." I said softly before Matt and Martin walked in. "Hear them out." I said.

"$10,000, 200 a day whether I catch him or not." Quint said when he looked at Martin.

"You've got it." Martin replied as Quint started to walk up the stairs into his house. He opened the door, the three of us followed as he walked through it.

"Get the mayor off my back so I don't have anymore of this zoning crap." Quint demanded.

"You've got that." Martin agreed as he took his glasses off and looked uncomfortable at the smell of dead fish that seemed to come off of every surface in the house.

"One case of Apricot Brandy, and you buy the lunch." his mate walked through the house looking for the dog, wherever the little salty mutt went I wanted nothing to do with it. There was a scar on my foot from the little bastard, and that was given to me on a good day.

"Two cases, and you get dinner when you get back." Martin negotiated. Matt was staring in awe and impressed fascination at the collection of shark jaws hung up along the walls.

"These are amazing." he said as he traced the teeth of one such unfortunate sand shark with his finger, and looked at me while my dad barked out demands.

"Yeah," I said as I crossed my arms over my chest and looked around.

"I always used to wonder what you did during the summer when we were kids." he sighed. "This is remarkable."

"I'm glad you're so enthusiastic." I said before hearing my name. I turned around and walked over to my dad who was holding out a shot glass. "Thought you'd never ask." I said as I walked over and took it from him.

"Hey chief, you try this, made it myself." Quint said and Martin watched as I threw back the liquid like a pro. Looking back on it, I think Quint gave me the first shot to make Martin think it was an easy drink to swallow, which it wasn't.

"Thanks." Martin accepted the shot glass and Quint quickly filled mine up again.

"Here's to swimming with bow-legged women." he said as he held his shot up, a sly look crossing his eye. Martin seemed to realize it because Quint and I both drank our shots a little slowly while Martin only sipped half of his, a horrified looked crossed his eyes as the taste and I couldn't help but smirk lightly. I blame my genes. "Excuse me Chief," he said as he moved around to the pot rattling on the stove. As he turned his back, Martin quickly spit the drink out into a metal vase and looked at me.

"How do you drink that?" he asked and I shrugged.

"I grew up on this stuff. Years of practice." I smiled. Quint pulled out the jaws of two sharks he was boiling and promptly dropped them back into the boiling water again before putting own his tongs.

"Can't get a good man these days under 60." he grumbled as he went to the stairs. "All gone at least 35 years." he climbed the stairs as Matt walked over to Martin and took the shot.

"Don't drink that." Martin advised Matt as he smelled the remaining liquor. He stuck his finger into the shot glass and tasted it before looking down at the small amount of liquor.

"Mr. Quint," Martin called up to my father who was taking his thick apron off. "Mr. Quint!" he called trying to get my dad to stop mumbling, Matt took the shot as Martin called up to him.

"_Mr. Quint_!" Matt gasped and coughed a little at the drink. He shot me a look as I stood there casually pouring myself another shot. Like father like daughter I guess. "You're gonna need an extra hand." Matt said.

"This is Matt Hooper-"

"I know who he is." Quint shot me a look and I smiled innocently.

"I've crewed three Trans Pacs."

"Transplants?" Quint asked and I scoffed lightly.

"No no no no, he's from the Oceanographic Institute." Martin tried to reason with my dad.

"And an America's Cup Trial." Matt said trying to get Martin to stop with the scientist angle and plead to my dad's boating side.

"Mr. Hooper I'm not talkin' about pleasure boating or day-sailing." Dad said as he picked up a large bag. I set down the bottle and stepped next to Matt.

"Be Aggressive." I said softly into Matt's ear.

"I'm talkin' about workin' for a living, I'm talkin' about sharking." he tossed the bag down at Matt who caught it quickly.

"Well I'm not talking about hooking some poor dogfish or sand shark." he threw the bag to the floor and Martin looked down at it, slightly impressed and slightly surprised that Matt had done it. "I'm talkin' about finding a Great White." he put his hands on his hips and stared up at my dad.

"Porkers? Talkin' about porkers, Mr. Hooper?" Dad asked as he walked down the stairs slowly. He grabbed a rope that was hung off a railing and tossed it to Matt. "Just tie me a sheepshank." I could see by Martin's face he had no idea what Dad was talking about. Matt sighed as he started to tie it.

"I haven't had to pass basic seamanship in a long time." Matt said as he looked from me to Martin while Dad went to check on his boiling shark jaws. "You didn't say how short you wanted it." he said, his voice laced with slight annoyance as he turned to look at my dad. He pulled the knot tight and tossed it at my dad. "How's that?" he asked as he threw it. Dad threw it to the ground and he walked over to Matt.

"Give me your hands." he demanded sharply and I rolled my eyes as he took Matt's hands in his, feeling his palms. "Dogfish?" he questioned. "You got a $5,000 net and you got 2,000 worth of fish in it." Matt grinned lightly, like he couldn't believe what was happening, and looked at me with the amused smile before looking back to my dad. "And along comes Mr. Whitey, and by the time he's finished with that net, it looks like a kiddies' scissor class has cut it up for a paper doll." he grumbled. "You got city hands Mr. Hooper. You been countin' money all your life." Matt jerked his hands away from my dad and stepped back quickly.

"All right, all right, hey! I- I don't need this!" he said looking slightly astonished as he looked from my dad to Martin. "I don't need this working class hero crap!" he said and Martin stepped forward.

"You- You're not going to do this aboard the ship are you Mr. Quint?" Martin asked and Dad sighed looking at both Martin and Matt, then to me.

"Maybe we should go alone." he said as he put his hand on my shoulder. Honestly, I had been expecting him to say that. Not about going alone, though it wasn't exactly surprising when he did, but about bringing me in. This was the first summer that I hadn't been working for him, and he had been quick to remind me of that at every opportunity he got. Martin looked at my dad for a moment, and then to me. I felt my jaw clench slightly but I met his eye.

"Well it's my party, it's my charter." he said finally.

"Yeah, it's your charter, it's your party." Dad nodded. "It's my vessel." he said strongly. "You're on board my vessel I'm mate, master, pilot, Captain," he put his hand back on my shoulder making Martin and Matt look at me. "And our First Mate." he said and I crossed my arms, but nodded. "I'll take him for ballast, Chief."

"You got him." Martin said with a small nod after a moment.

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**_Please don't forget to review!_ **


	19. Chapter 19

_**Hey ya'll, I took a break from this story for awhile because I kind of had writers block. I'm going to try to finish the story soon, sorry about the long wait! **_

_**Disclaimer: I only own Caroline!** _

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One call to the institute and Matt would have everything he would need to research the shark by the time we left the next morning. I pulled together a bag of clothes I had sworn I would get rid of a long time ago, but never seemed to get around to it. Guess it was a good thing I didn't. It was late in the day when it seemed like phone calls stopped coming, and we were able to finally relax. "The guys from the institute are coming to my dad's to drop everything off there, why don't you meet us there?" I asked Martin who I was on the phone with.

"Sounds good Caroline, we'll meet you there." he said. I said goodbye before hanging up. I was making mixing up pancake batter for dinner; it was a tradition of mine, to have pancakes the night before going out on the Orca. As I poked at one of the pancakes with a spatula Matt came in from the living room.

"Pancakes for dinner?" he asked and I smiled.

"It's silly, but it's tradition." I said with a shrug.

"I haven't had homemade pancakes since I was a kid." he chuckled as I flipped a pancake. "You know..." he said slowly and I looked at him. "It's quiet." he said and I nodded as I flipped the other pancakes. "It's almost like it's not out there." he said and I smiled.

"Well he won't be for much longer." I said and he nodded.

After we finished our food I was doing the dishes when Matt came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I put the dishes down and turned off the water before touching his hands. He lanced our fingers together and I turned around, allowing him to kiss me deeply. I cupped his face, feeling his beard under my fingers I smiled lightly before wrapping my arms around his neck. He deepened the kiss before I pulled away. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Let's go upstairs." He smiled and took my hand, before allowing me to lead him upstairs.

"So now's as good a time as any." he said as he walked back into the bedroom awhile later and I looked at him curiously.

"For what?" I asked as he sipped a glass of water he had gone to get.

"To tell me what really happened to make you stop working with your father."

"You want to know the truth?" I asked and he nodded. "Okay. Truth is, we were one a two day trip, it was night time, Quint decided to put me on the first night watch and he went to sleep after drinking heavily, and two of the men decided to come have a little chat with me while I was up by the helm..." I said slowly.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked, his eyes looked angry and fierce as he took my hand.

"They tried to. The third man on their trip, he stopped them. My dad never woke up." I said and he stared at me for a long moment before he walked the rest of the way into the room, sat down on the side of the bed and pulled me into a long hug. I hugged him back tightly and he rested his chin on the top of my head.

"Well I don't think you have to worry about anything like that with Martin." he said and I laughed before I looked up at him.

"Well what about you, Mr. Hooper?" I asked with a small smile.

"Well to be perfectly honest, Miss Quint," he said imitating my tone. "It might be best to worry about me."

"Oh really?" I asked and he smirked before he leaned in, pressing his lips against mine again.

"Hey guys." I said to the two boys from the oceanographic institute as they unloaded some stuff onto the dock. "Do you need any help?"

"Uh, no thanks Miss Quint." one of them smiled at me. I shrugged and walked onto the Orca, checking to make sure my bag was secure before going back to the dock.

"Caroline, make yerself useful!" Quint shouted before chucking a bag over the railing of the balcony at me. I caught it easily and brought it onto the boat, chuckling at the shocked and semi horrified faces of Matt's friends.

"What are you guys staring at?" I heard Matt ask and they both scrambled to do something quickly. I looked out at Matt who smiled and winked at me, before looking at his friends who were starting to explain all of the equipment.

"Straight Jet, killing lance, tail rope, eye splice, M1, handy billy, pliers, irons," Quint was listing off as he and his mate walked down the stairs to the dock.

"Sample bottles, dye markers, flares, saftey float, temperature gauge, spear guns, SMG..." Matt's friend was reading off their own list as I stood on the side of the boat looking amused at all of this high tech stuff.

"What are you, some kind of half ass astronaut?" Quint asked and Matt looked at him before rolling his eyes. Dad started cackling as he stepped on board the Orca and shoved an armload of stuff into my hands. "Take that junk below and you latch it secure, all right, you understand?" he shouted to his mate as a man came rolling some metal contraption up behind Matt who was stepping onto the boat. "Jesus H. Christ." he said as he looked at the equipment. "Caroline, you seeing this?"

"I'm right here." I said from the helm.

"When I was a boy every little squirt wanted to be a harpooner or a swordfisherman. What do you got here? A portable shower or a monkey cage?" he asked and Matt looked at it before looking at my Dad.

"Anti-Shark cage." Matt answered.

"Anti-Shark cage?" dad nodded, and looked back at me with a slightly amused, of not concerned look, then looked back at Matt. "You go inside the cage?" Matt nodded looking almost giddy at the idea. Either that or he was still in a really good mood from earlier. "Cage goes in the water? You go in the water? Shark's in the water. Our shark." Matt nodded the entire time and Dad grinned. "Farewell and Adeu, to you fair spanish ladies, Farewell and adeu, you ladies of spain. For we've recived orders, for to sail back to boston, And so nevermore, shall we see you again." he sang and to his credit Matt only looked at me, I rolled his eyes and he smiled widely.

"You seem to be handling him well." I said as I walked over to help pack up the rest of Matt's stuff.

"I've decided to just take whatever he dishes out." he informed me and I nodded.

"A very wise decision Mr. Hooper." I said and he smiled as he grabbed my hand and pulled me close.

"Why thank you Miss Quint." he said softly. I smiled and leaned in to kiss him when Dad started shouting about something I had done wrong.

"_Son of a bitch_! Goddamn women today, they can't handle nothing-"

"Quint, what are you hollering about?!" I shouted back to him, looking away from Matt. I huffed out a sigh and stepped back onto the Orca, narrowly avoiding the god damn little devil animal Quint claimed was a dog.

"Break it up, will you, chief?" Quint shouted suddenly as I carried the rest of the scientific crap Matt insisted on bringing with us. Call me old fashioned, or call me a Quint, I don't care, I just didn't see the point in bringing most of this stuff. "Daylight's wasting! Front, bow, back, stern. You don't get it right, squirt, I throw your ass out the little round window. Come one, chief! This isn't no boy scout picnic! I see you got your rubbers." He gave a vulgar laugh making me roll my eyes as Matt climbed on board and sent his friends from the institute off. "Here lies the body of Mary Lee, Died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity - Not a bad record for this vicinity!" he laughed again as Ellen ran off and I shook my head. "Don't worry, chief. They may not like you going out, but they'll love you coming back in! If you see a shark Hooper, swallow!" Martin climbed onto the boat and I told him where to store his stuff before I climbed up to the helm with Matt and started the boat up, before navigating out of the harbor.

Awhile later I was sitting in the Crow's nest, looking out at the empty water around me while Martin scooped the chum line. Dad sat in his seat, drinking a beer and holding his fishing pole while Matt messed around with a green box that was supposedly giving him some form of readings. "Keep that chum line going, chief. We got five good miles on him." Dad said to Martin.

"Who's driving this boat?" Martin asked as he looked at Matt who was sitting near him, and then to me.

"Nobody," was the reply. "The tide. One time I caught a sixteen footer off Montauk. Had to stick two barrels in him. Two to wear him down and bring him up." he looked Matt over as I climbed down from the crow's nest to grab a drink of water. "Nowadays, these kids, they bring everything. Radar, sonar, electric toothbrushes. Hey, chief! Best drop another chum marker." Matt just nodded as Quint poked fun at him, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Jesus H. Christ." dad muttered as he opened a beer and brought it to his lips.

He caught Matt looking and made it a point to down the entire beer in one singly, seemingly endless drink, before crushing it in his hand, his eyes never leaving Matt's. Matt, taking it as a challenge, drank the entire contents of his Styrofoam cup in one gulp and easily crushed the cup on his hand before dropping it one the ground.

A loud clang got everyone's attention as Martin pulled what he thought was the chum line, but ended up being the line securing the anti shark cage and Matt's compressed air. Martin fell back, groaning slightly before he pulled the orange safety vest off, he was the only one who had insisted on wearing it.

"Watch it! Damn it, Martin!" Matt sighed as he caught the tanks. "This is compressed air!"

"Well what the hell kind of a knot was that?!" Martin shouted back, obviously a little embarrassed about his mistake.

"You pulled the wrong one. You screw around with these tanks and they're going to blow up."

"Yeah, that's real fine expensive gear you brought out here Mr. Hooper," Quint said looking back at Matt quickly as Martin took the chum marker and went to work with it. "Course I don't know what that bastard shark's going to do with it. Might eat it, I suppose. Seen one eat a rocking chair one time." Matt worked on retying the knots securing the anti shark cage and the compressed air while I started the climb back onto the crow's nest, the excitement over apparently. "Hey Chiefey, Next time you just ask me which line to pull, right?" he muttered to Martin and Martin looked back at him, then to the chum line.

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**_Hope you enjoyed the chapter, you get to see a bit more of Caroline in her element. _**

**_Please don't forget to review!_ **


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